The Wheel's 2021 Election Runoff Voters Guide

Early voting is open for both the City of Richardson and the Richardson ISD's runoff elections. Early voting runs from May 24 - June 1. Election Day is June 5.

CoR has one place on the ballot, Place 6. RISD has one place on the ballot, At Large Place 7. All registered voters in CoR and RISD can vote in these elections, whether or not you voted in the May 1 election. (But you do have to be registered already. You can't register at the polls. That would be too easy. And, in Texas, making it too easy to vote is verboten.)

Here is how I'm voting.

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City of Richardson, City Council Place 6: Arefin Shamsul

I endorse Arefin Shamsul. He's an immigrant from Bangladesh who has lived in America for 29 years. He earned a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. He owns a successful small business working on municipal infrastructure. His is an American success story. He has all the volunteer civic experience (Zoning Board, Building and Standard Commission, Leadership Richardson, Citizens Police Academy) that qualifies him for the next step, serving on City Council. It's sometimes said that the US government is an insurance company with an army. If that's true, city government is an infrastructure company with a police department. Arefin Shamsul's experience with municipal infrastructure and volunteer community service makes him well suited to address Richardson's perennial infrastructure challenges. (The recent storm that flooded Richardson streets was a reminder of how important municipal infrastructure is in Richardson.)

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Richardson ISD, At Large Place 7: Amanda Clair

I endorse Amanda Clair. She has three young children, two already in RISD schools and a pre-schooler. She's active in her children's school PTA, serving as first VP. She also serves as a volunteer at the district level. She is a subcommittee chair on the Racial Equity committee. She's a former teacher and director of English Language Learner programming. Currently, she is an academic director for a national education consultancy firm. All that gives her the personal and professional experience to be an asset to the RISD Board of Trustees. Her assessment of RISD performance is that we are not meeting our promises to all students regarding reading performance.

Now it's up to us. Vote.