Hemphill County voters have their work cut out for them on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The 2022 mid-term election is already mined with high-stakes races that will determine whether the Democratic Party retains control of the U.S. House of Representatives, where every seat is up for grabs, and whether the Republican Party retains control of the U.S. Senate, where 35 seats are in contention.

Also in play this year are the governorships in 36 states—most notably, in Texas—as well as a hot mess of other down-ballot races for secretary of state, attorney general, state comptroller, and a smattering of state commissioners, and Supreme Court Justices.

As if the stakes aren’t high enough, many of those races could also determine who manages the 2024 presidential election, as well as a number of other hot-button issues.

Voters here at home face a couple of bonus questions on their ballots. Canadian voters are posed with the always-contentious question of whether to legalize the sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed beverages, in the city limits.

Voters who live within the Canadian Independent School District are being asked to approve the ad valorem tax rate of $1.1646, adopted by school board members for the current year. That rate is actually lower than last year’s overall rate of $1.2734, but still results in an increase in maintenance and operations revenue for the district.

While either one of those ballot issues could have a beneficial financial impact on the community at large—and on the hiring and retention of good educators—the school tax rate election is bound up in the complexities of Texas school finance law, and its proponents face the challenge of ensuring that voters understand what they are being asked to vote for.

And while wet-dry votes have a troubled history in this community—whether countywide or citywide—the election to legalize alcohol sales in the city is far simpler to understand but tends to trigger a more emotional response from the electorate.

The last wet-dry vote was held in Hemphill County in 2016, launched by a statewide organization— Texas Petitions Strategies, Inc.—which provides services in local-option and bond elections and also offers political consulting services. That drive was orchestrated, and bankrolled, by Greg Mitchell, president of the Amarillo-based Toot’n Totum chain, which had just unveiled plans to build a new convenience store here, complete with a fueling station, truck stop, and restaurant.

That vote failed by a narrow 26-vote margin. An earlier effort in 2013 to legalize liquor sales within the city limits failed by a larger margin of 328-240. Despite a heated campaign, only 37 percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots.

This year’s petition effort was led, singlehandedly, by Shila Wyatt, who gathered more than the required signatures of registered voters needed to call for a vote. Wyatt may have defused the “outsider” response that many had to Texas Petition Strategies. Still, the local-option election promises to roil the waters in a town whose most famous landmark is the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) building.

Simplifying what could have been a far more complicated process for voters, the Hemphill County clerk’s office has agreed—at the request of the other taxing entities—to conduct a consolidated voting process.

Early voting by personal appearance will be conducted each weekday at the Hemphill County courthouse between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm, beginning on Monday, Oct. 24, and ending on Friday, Nov. 4. Applications for ballot by mail can be sent to the office of County Clerk Sylvia Guerrero. The usual polling places will be open for voters on Election Day from 7 am to 7 pm, and the essential process of ballot counting and reporting will be done in the county clerk’s office.

The Record’s complete election coverage begins with this edition (as you will see in the following pages), and will continue until the votes are all counted. We will include important election dates, information about voter ID requirements, copies of sample ballots, and directions on how to cast your ballots—early or on Election Day.

We will also open our pages to any resident of this community who wishes to express an opinion on the local-option election. We welcome your comments and ask that you submit them—no later than 5 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 18—by email to editor@canadianrecord.com, by mail to Editor, The Canadian Record, PO Box 898, Canadian, TX 79014, or just by walking through our front door at 211 Main with your thoughts inscribed on a piece of paper. All comments must be signed, and a telephone number included for verification, but not publication, purposes.

We ask that you limit your comments to 350 words or less and that they be expressed in a civil manner. The only submissions we won’t publish are those that contain personal attacks or which are potentially libelous. We will publish a fair and representative selection of those comments in our print edition, and we will publish the rest online at canadianrecord.com.