Interest Expressed For Another Alcohol Election

There could be a second local option election for alcohol sales in Van Zandt County before the end of the year.

And this time, it could involve an entire county precinct.

Van Zandt County Clerk Charlotte Bledsoe confirmed Wednesday that she had been contacted by someone interested in beginning a local option election for Precinct 1.

"They haven’t brought an application for anything yet to my office, which must be done before a petition drive can be started," Bledsoe said.

Precinct 1 is the northeast quadrant of Van Zandt County and includes Grand Saline, Fruitvale, Edgewood and the northeast sector of Canton.

An application for a local option election, which must have at least 10 signatures of registered voters inside the jurisdiction in question, must be turned in to the county clerk’s office before the next step in the process, Bledsoe explained.

"People have contacted me wanting to know what the steps were, and I told them and have sent an application form," she said.

Bledsoe declined to reveal the identification of the person or persons who requested the application form, but did say they expressed interest in pursuing any of three alcohol sales options.

"Of course, until the application comes in, we don’t know for sure which ones they are considering," she said.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has 10 local options for alcohol sales that are eligible to be presented in an election.

Bledsoe said there was an indicated interest in an option for beer and wine for off-premise consumption and an option for all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption.

The third option indicated as a possibility, Bledsoe said, was mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders, more commonly known as "liquor by the drink."

"What they actually come in with, only time will tell," Bledsoe added.

The request for a petition application comes just three weeks after voters in the city of Wills Point approved the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption.

In doing so, Wills Point became the first city in Van Zandt County history to legalize alcoholic beverage sales outside of private club license holders and state approved wineries.

Bledsoe said there is "plenty of time remaining" for a local option election to go on Precinct 1 ballots in early November.

"Once they bring me the application, I have five days to give them the petition form, then they have 60 days to get that back in to my office," she said.

Generally, local option election petitions require the signatures of 35 percent of the jurisdiction’s registered voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election, according to election information posted on the Texas Secretary of State’s Web site.

Bledsoe said if the application for a petition is returned by the end of this month, it would give those gathering signatures plenty of time to get a petition back to the county commissioners’ court for final approval in August and the potential setting of a November local option election for the precinct.

"Really, by August, we (county) need to know what is going to be on the ballot," Bledsoe said.