Texans headed to the polls this week to vote on 10 constitutional amendments and, in some cities, for mayoral and city council positions. Seven of the 10 constitutional amendments passed, with voters rejecting propositions giving new bonding authority to counties, a conservation district in El Paso and tax breaks for landowners who practice good water stewardship. The dismal turnout, 5.5 percent, was down from 8.1 percent in 2009. The one statewide race on the ballot, a House seat in Brazos County, is headed for a runoff between Republicans Bob Yancy and John Raney. The biggest mayoral contest in the state, though, saw a clear winner — but by a thin margin: Incumbent Annise Parker won with 50.9 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff.

Texas redistricting maps for the House, Senate and Congress will be drawn by a panel of federal judges in San Antonio after a Washington court decided to hold a trial before preclearing maps drawn by the Legtislature. Because of the time that will take, the Washington court signaled the Texas to draw legal maps. That gave hope to Democrats and minority organizations that sued the state over the legislative effort, saying it didn't adequately protect minority voting rights.

Travis County tried something new on Election Day, allowing voters to cast their ballots at any polling center, hoping to keep voters from showing up at the wrong places or having to rush to get to their polling places before closing time. The Legislature approved the system this year. To determine the impact of the voting centers, the county hired a Rice University professor to analyze voting day information.

A University of Texas survey has found that one in five Houstonians assess their own health as fair or poor. The survey, led by Stephen Linder of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, is designed to get local leaders talking about strategies to address the lack of access to health care and insurance. The survey mapped the city by neighborhood and ethnic group from a randomly selected group of 5,000 households and was conducted by phone, mail-in and website questionnaires. Three languages were used to gather information: English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

At an annual conference, electricity retailers and brokers agreed that electricity rates are sure to go up for Texans in the next couple of years. The Texas Electricity Professionals Association gathered in Dallas and predicted that the high demand, coupled with natural gas cost increases, will lead to rates that are about 10 percent higher in 2012 and 2013.

Texas and the feds continue to point fingers at each other over the distribution of hurricane recovery funds. After Texas received a reprimand from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for its sluggishness in allocating the funds for rebuilding, the governor’s office responded by blasting the federal government for its guidelines. Kathy Walt, Gov. Rick Perry’s deputy chief of staff, claimed that HUD rejected the state’s plan for distributing the money in November of 2009 for political reasons. But critics of the state’s policies say that the formula proposed to dole out the funds is flawed. The controversial firm hired to help disburse the funds, HNTB, developed the model, which was based on weather intensity instead of actual storm damage.

An audit of the Texas Railroad Commission showed that natural gas pipelines are inspected by the agency at a rate of just 65 percent. Texas has about 270,000 miles of pipeline, the largest network in the country. The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods has taken the lead on monitoring the impact of the pipelines and hired two researchers to study the more than 900 miles of pipes in the area. The researchers found good and bad news in the state’s report, criticizing regulatory loopholes but praising city and state rules safeguarding pipelines.

Bexar County Democrats were gratified to close the door on the embezzlement trial of former party treasurer Dwayne Adams, who was convicted on charges of theft and misapplication of fiduciary property. Adams received a six-year sentence for stealing money in the party’s bank account that was intended to pay for the 2008 primary. The party has since raised the money to pay back the county for the debt it incurred to finance the primary. Prosecutors asked that Adams be ordered to pay restitution, but the judge did not immediately rule on that request.

Ann McGeehan, the director of the elections division at the Texas Secretary of State and a master of the arcana of state election law, is leaving the department after more than 22 years to take a position at the Texas County and District Retirement Systems. The move comes at a time when the state is in the throes of a controversy over the contentious voter ID bill that was passed out of the Texas Legislature earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Justice has put the state’s request for preclearance of the measure on hold, alleging Texas election officials need to provide more information to the federal agency to prove that the law, which would require that most voters furnish an photo ID in order to cast a ballot, does not infringe on the rights of minority voters.

Rich Parsons, the Secretary of State’s communications director, said McGeehan’s departure has nothing to do with the current demands of the DOJ and the allegations by Democrats that the law will disenfranchise some voters.

“She’s been here for 22 years, and she just decided it was time to see what else what’s going on out there,” he said, adding that the department has a very “dedicated and professional legal staff” that will continue working on the voter ID issue.

She's leaving right after the constitutional amendment elections and right before the state has to pull together plans for primary elections under maps (for House, Senate and Congress) that are even now being drawn by a panel of federal judges in San Antonio. Candidates will be filing for election under those maps starting in just over two weeks, on November 28.

Elizabeth Winn, whom Parsons said has been the department’s legal director since 1995, will be the interim director of the elections division.

Erica Stick is the new veep for government relations in Texas at Amerigroup, a Medicaid managed care outfit. she's replacing Merideth Delk, who got a promotion to senior vice president for government affairs. Stick was previous at the state's Health and Human Services Commission.

WGU Texas, a new nonprofit, online university established by the state of Texas, appointed Mark Milliron as its first Chancellor. Milliron previously served as Deputy Director for Postsecondary Improvement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed 13 members to the Texas Juvenile Justice Board, and named Scott Fisher of Bedford chair of the board. Fisher is senior pastor of Metroplex Chapel of Euless.

The others include John Brieden III of Brenham is county judge of Washington County; Joseph Brown of Sherman is criminal district attorney of Grayson County; Carol Bush of Waxahachie is the Ellis County judge, and a former Ellis County court at law judge; Jane Anderson King of Canyon is chief juvenile probation officer for the Randall County Juvenile Probation Department; Rob Kyker of Richardson is owner of R&D Sales and Leasing; Michael Meade of Simonton is director and chief juvenile probation officer of the Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department; Mary Lou Mendoza of San Antonio is an elementary school principal in the Northside Independent School District; Rene Olvera of San Antonio is head psychiatrist liaison for the UT Health Science Center Psychiatric Department and Bexar County Juvenile Probation Correctional Services, and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Laura Parker of San Antonio is judge of the 386th Juvenile District Court in Bexar County; Jimmy Smith is a Midland County commissioner; Calvin Stephens of Dallas is president of SSP Consulting; and Melissa Weiss of Bellville is chief juvenile probation officer for the Austin County Juvenile Probation Department.