With a fairly low 8.5% turn-out of all registered voters, voters in Texas approved all 16 amendments to the Texas constitution, and propositions to allow the sale of beer & wine in several nearby communities passed as well. Proposition 4, for the issuance of up to $1 billion in bonds for assorted maintenance and construction items throughout the state, passed by the smallest margin of the 16 amendments, at 58% for and 42% against. Proposition 9, concerning property taxes for totally disabled veterans, passed by the greatest margin, at 91% for and 9% against.

Many Forney residents were also carefully watching elections concerning the sale of beer & wine as well as mixed drinks in many nearby cities, including Mesquite, Rockwall and Fate. Click ‘Read On’ for the results…

The final tally for all of the amendments are available on this page, provided by the Texas Secretary of State.

With all precincts reporting in Mesquite, a proposition to eliminate the private club requirement for mixed beverage sales in restaurants passed with 60% for and 40% against, while a proposition to allow the sale of beer & wine failed narrowly with 53% against and 47% for. With such a close race, I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this issue in Mesquite.

The Dallas County Elections website, which has an amazing level of detail, and some great features, has the final tally of the local option propositions in Mesquite. That site also shows a precinct level map of how people voted for and against the sale of beer & wine in Mesquite - that map shows some interesting results. Precincts near 635 & Interstate 30 voted for the proposition, while most other precincts, excluding Mesquite’s southernmost precinct near Interstate 20, voted against the proposition.

With 16 of 18 precincts reporting in Rockwall County, Rockwall had an amazing voter turnout - 18% of the registered voters in Rockwall voted, much higher than the 8.5% statewide turnout. Three cities in Rockwall County were holding local option elections - Rockwall, Fate and Royse City.

In the Rockwall elections, proposition 1, which would allow beer & wine sales, passed with 66% voting for and 34% voting against. Proposition 2, which eliminates the private-club requirement for the sale of mixed drinks in restaurants, passed with 72% voting for and 28% voting against.

In Fate, proposition 1, which would allow beer & wine sales, passed with 54% voting for and 46% voting against. Royse City also passed their local option election which will allow beer & wine sales, with 52% voting for and 48% voting against.

Rockwall County has posted the Rockwall County elections results here, for those wanting more details.

For Forney residents, especially those living in Windmill Farms and Travis Ranch, with their easy access to Rockwall, this means more options while shopping for beer and wine - until these elections, the only nearby choice for beer or wine was Terrell, where, outside of the Wal-Mart, there were no grocery stores and primarily only liquor stores to shop at.

No doubt, the Albertsons and Kroger grocery stores in Rockwall are already making plans to offer a wide array of beer and wine to shoppers in the area, and rumor has it several other grocery stores, including what many consider to be upscale stores, have been considering Rockwall, pending the results of this election. Restaurant owners in Rockwall are also celebrating the fact that with the passage of proposition 2, they can eliminate their costly “private club” systems such as Unicard that allowed them to serve mixed drinks. The results of this election will no doubt be a boon to The Harbor, Rockwall’s new retail/dining destination. It will also be interesting to see what impact this has on the next phase the Plaza at Rockwall, the latest retail center to open in Rockwall near Interstate 30 & Highway 205.

Feel free to discuss these election results with your neighbors in the Forney discussion forums.

Welcome to Twenty Peaceful Minutes (20PM) - a community website for Forney, Texas. In addition to this blog, 20PM is home to the Forney discussion forums, which you may reach by clicking the Forney discussion forum link or going to http://20pm.net/forums; also, considering signing up for email or newsreader (RSS feed) notifications of new posts to the 20PM blog!