“The public has spoken,” says Mark Berend. “Approximately 1,100 signatures were required. We have more than 1,500 valid, unique signatures in hand.”
One step closer to their goal, Stop Forced Annexation presented about 1,500 signatures to Freestone County Commissioners on Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
Stop Forced Annexation is a citizens’ group in Freestone County, founded by Berend and Ed O’Neill, working to make sure every voice is heard on the issue of annexation.
Berend is a resident of the Oak Forest addition, and O’Neill resides in the Westwood neighborhood.
As cities all over the State of Texas continue to expand, forced annexation has been a hot topic.
During a special session in August 2017, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 6, which requires citizens in counties with a population of 500,000 or more to automatically have the right to vote whether an area should be annexed or not.
Counties with populations less than 500,000 can have that same right IF citizens vote in favor of allowing citizens within an affected area the right to chose whether they want to be annexed.
In order for this to happen, at least 10% of registered voters in the county must sign a petition requesting to have the matter added to the ballot during an election.
Stop Forced Annexation’ goal was to obtain at least 1,200 signatures, 10% of the nearly 12,000 registered voters in Freestone County, by the end of June in order to have this topic added to the ballot for the November 6, 2018 election.
The group far exceeded their goal, and has turned the signatures over to the county to canvas for authenticity.
Once validated, the next step is to have the proposition added to the November 6th general election ballot for Freestone County citizens to vote if they believe residents of a targeted area should have the right to vote as to whether they want to be annexed into city limits.
Canvassing is expected to be completed by mid July.
