A lone banner along State Highway 4 announced the location on Tuesday of the only voting center in what is sure to be a newly incorporated town arising on a spit of land at the southern tip of Texas.
On the ballot: A measure to formally launch Starbase, Texas, the town long dreamed of by Elon Musk to be home to his rocket company, SpaceX, and its 3,500 employees. Voting was taking place, appropriately enough, at a SpaceX building usually closed to visitors.
It has been a tough few weeks for Mr. Musk. Tesla announced on Tuesday its profits fell 71 percent in the first three months of the year. The company’s stock price has been plunging, denting Mr. Musk’s still-fabulous wealth. His work slashing the federal government has made him reviled in many parts of the country. He has publicly tussled with other advisers at the Trump White House, where he has ensconced himself.
But the Starbase vote is a bright spot for the megabillionaire.
A little more than four years ago, Mr. Musk began publicly suggesting a fanciful new name for the stretch of coastal wetlands where SpaceX builds and launches its rockets. For a while, it seemed like just calling it Starbase would be enough. But as the company grew its footprint, moving its corporate headquarters and feverishly building housing to keep up with its swelling work force, the boss wanted a real town.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
With voting now underway, that reality could be declared on May 3, Election Day, when voting ends.
Only a few dozen voters came out on the first day of early voting. There were, after all, just 279 people eligible to cast a ballot, 90 percent of whom have flocked to the area and registered since the start of 2024, according to county records obtained by The New York Times in a public information act request. The proposed city, at about 1.5 square miles, or a little larger than Central Park, would be populated almost exclusively by employees of SpaceX and their relatives. Voting concludes on May 3.
But small as the town may be, Mr. Musk wanted it. And the denizens were no doubt going to oblige, even if they didn’t much want to talk about it.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.
