LUBBOCK, Texas — Despite placing third in the mayor’s race, and Prop A getting struck down by voters, Adam Hernandez, communications chair with Freedom Act Lubbock, said the results didn’t get him and his team down too much.
“The reason why that reaction happened is because of the impact we had, and so that’s why I’m incredibly proud,” Hernandez said.
Only 36,000 voters cast ballots this election, even though Lubbock County has a little more than 190,000 registered voters. But, Hernandez told EverythingLubbock.com that who went to the polls played a part too.
“A lot of younger people did not show up,” Hernandez said. “We have to sort of battle that narrative that our vote doesn’t count or that everything is just predetermined. It just doesn’t work like that on a local level.”
When it comes to trying to get marijuana decriminalization on a future ballot here in Lubbock, Hernandez said it’s too early to tell just yet.
“The reason why it depends is because we have two cities that are underway right now collecting signatures for similar ordinances,” he said. “I just don’t know how many cities it’s going to take before the state legislature says, okay, this is what the majority of our citizens want.”
So, in the meantime, Hernandez said he and the Freedom Act’s focus is educating the next generation of voters, slowly, but surely.
“Democracy works best when the most people are represented to the fullest extent possible, and that’s sort of the goal we’re trying to reach,” Hernandez said.
Project Destiny Texas, the group advocating against Proposition A, wasn’t available for an interview, but shared a statement on their feelings about the vote, and future efforts to put it on another ballot below.
“We are pleased with the outcome and thankful for the broad-based support of this effort. We have found when Lubbockites realized the full repercussions of this – their vote reflected as such. Lubbock does not want to be Austin, Dallas, LA, Colorado, or a new New Mexico.
We will vigilantly protect and defend our youth and their futures in any effort that looks to hurt Lubbock, our families, our youth and their destiny. We will always work to build a broad coalition to stand for the values that makes Lubbock a great place to live and raise families for generations to come.
We are so thankful for Lubbock voters who overwhelmingly supported this grand effort to Protect Lubbock.”
Even though Hernandez won’t be in the race, there’s still a runoff election for Lubbock mayor, which will happen on June 15th. Two other races are also on that ballot.
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