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With every election cycle, the
Chronicle News team and editorial board take seriously the trust our readers have given us to navigate the issues and make our recommendations for who and what deserves your vote. This year, we ve added opportunities for you to see and hear firsthand from the people behind the propositions on the May 1 special election ballot. Clockwise from top left: Chronicle News Editor Mike Clark-Madison, Save Austin Now s Cleo Petricek, and Chris Harris from Homes Not Handcuffs
Chronicle News Editor Mike Clark-Madison conducted three virtual election forums, focusing on Proposition B – the citizen initiative to restore Austin s prohibitions on public camping, panhandling, and other activities of homelessness – and on the suite of democracy promotion measures placed on the ballot by Austinites for Progressive Reform.
With every election cycle, the
Chronicle News team and editorial board take seriously the trust our readers have given us to navigate the issues and make our recommendations. This year, we ve added opportunities for you to see and hear firsthand from the people behind the propositions on the May 1 special election ballot.
Austinites for Progressive Reform Founder Andrew Allison and APR campaign manager Jim Wick joined News Editor Mike Clark-Madison to discuss the group s proposals to change the timing of mayoral elections, expand the size of City Council, replace run-offs with ranked choice voting, and create public financing of Council campaigns with a Democracy Dollars program.
Cleo Petricek and
Homes Not Handcuffs
You can also listen to forums on
KOOP-FM, which will be broadcasting them on Tuesday, April 13. We ll have our
endorsements and more election coverage in the April 16 issue;
early voting begins April 19.
What’s on the Ballot?
Seven of the eight propositions (all except Prop B) would amend the Austin
City Charter, which can only be amended by election every two years – a state law provision that, by a matter of days, made the APR amendments (Props D-H) ineligible for the November 2020 ballot. Save Austin Now had submitted Prop B for the November 2020 ballot but fell short of the required number of signatures from Austin voters; it succeeded on its second try. Find info on