Tag Archives: primaries

Paxton versus the CCA

He’s on a revenge tour. Attorney General Ken Paxton is turning up the heat in the Republican primary for Texas’ highest criminal court, where three judges are up for reelection. Paxton has long made clear he would be going after … Continue reading

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Where are we going to count the primary votes?

I’m a little puzzled by this. With the March primaries around the corner, Harris County still does not have a confirmed location to run its election operations. Two of the county’s regular sites – NRG Arena and George R. Brown … Continue reading

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More filing deadline news and notes

I’m going to use the Erik Manning Spreadsheet, the Patrick Svitek spreadsheet, and the Secretary of State webpage to put together some notes and observations about the 2024 filing deadline and primary lineups. Note that some of this may still … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit does its thing with Galveston redistricting

Death, taxes, and the Fifth Circuit being terrible. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked a new political map imposed on Galveston County by a lower court from taking effect. Plaintiffs are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to … Continue reading

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Galveston ordered to use its current map for 2024

Pending the Fifth Circuit, of course. A federal judge ruled Galveston County must keep its old commissioner precinct map in place for the 2024 election while a federal appeals court mulls overturning its precedent and allowing new maps which do … Continue reading

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Candidate filing update

There’s still more than two weeks to go until the filing deadline for the 2024 primaries, so there are still a lot of people who haven’t filed or haven’t made their surprise announcement that they’re not filing yet. So if … Continue reading

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Sure, Jared

The campaign ads will write themselves. Prominent anti-LGBTQ+ attorney and former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill is running for the Texas House and to replace House Speaker Dade Phelan. Woodfill announced his candidacy for House District 138 this week, … Continue reading

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I have basically no idea who’s running for office right now

Candidate data, where are you? Next year’s primary campaigns are starting to take shape after numerous candidates filed for office on Saturday, the first day to sign up for a spot on the March 2024 ballot. Voters will weigh in … Continue reading

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Rep. Pat Fallon has a whirlwind 48 hours

First there was this on Monday, which was a little weird and meant at the time that three Republicans from Texas were leaving Congress after this term. U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman, is quitting Congress and running for his old … Continue reading

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Rep. Michael Burgess not running for re-election

No great loss. U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, a Dallas-area Republican who has held his post for two decades, will not seek re-election next year, he announced Monday. “It has been the honor of my life to have gone from a … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit upholds (*) Galveston redistricting ruling

With an asterisk, as noted in the title. A federal appeals court Friday ruled that Galveston County commissioners violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act by eliminating the only majority-minority district in its latest redistricting process. The 5th Circuit Court of … Continue reading

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Filing season for 2024 begins today

Happy First Day of Candidate Filing to all who celebrate. The Democratic and Republican slates will begin to take shape this weekend once candidates start filing their paperwork to run. Several Harris County officials plan to file for re-election, such … Continue reading

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State Rep. Craig Goldman to run for CD12

Of interest. State Rep. Craig Goldman announced Friday he is running to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, a fellow Fort Worth Republican. “My record proves I will be a conservative fighter who will prioritize border security and the American … Continue reading

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Rep. Kay Granger to retire

From Monday evening. U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, won’t run for reelection, five well-placed sources who know the longtime congresswoman’s plans told the Fort Worth Report and KERA News. “I think she’s tired,” said one source. “She’s accomplished so … Continue reading

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Galveston redistricting ruling paused

The Fifth Circuit strikes again. Less than a week after a federal judge ruled Galveston County’s precinct maps violated the Voting Rights Act, the U.S Fifth Circuit Court issued a stay on the order. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Jeffery V. … Continue reading

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Two 2024 polls

I know, it’s all ridiculously early, but what the heck. Here’s poll #1. The 2024 election is still more than a year out, but a new poll by the University of Texas at Tyler shows Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz … Continue reading

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Please don’t threaten to kill your political opponents

We really shouldn’t have to say these things, except that nowadays we really do. A former candidate for U.S. representative has been accused of threatening to kill his political opponent, U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, TX-14, according to federal court filings. … Continue reading

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Mail ballot rejections were down for November

Good, but still room for more improvement. More than 10,000 ballots were rejected in the state’s largest counties in Tuesday’s midterm election, making for a rejection rate of about 4 percent, according to preliminary data from the secretary of state’s … Continue reading

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Here’s hoping we’ll have fewer mail ballot rejections in November

Counties are taking the problem seriously, which is a good start. The statewide rejection rate [for mail ballots] was more than 12 percent in the primary — six times what it was in the last midterm year in 2018. By … Continue reading

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Meet the new billionaires in charge of Texas

Somewhat worse than the old billionaires, who were already pretty bad. Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion. This is Texas now: … Continue reading

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Some ideas for improving elections in Harris County

Put it on the new guy’s to do list. When Harris County’s new elections administrator starts the job next month, he will have less than three months to get ready before polls open on Oct. 24 for early voting in … Continue reading

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Still no new Election Administrator

C’mon, y’all. Harris County officials canceled an election commission meeting for the second time this week, again citing a lack of quorum because only two members were able to attend in person. The rescheduled meeting now is set for Tuesday. … Continue reading

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No new election admin yet

Hope this delay is brief. Harris County’s top election position remains unfilled, after a Monday meeting of the county’s election commission to select a candidate was canceled due to a lack of quorum. Their final pick will face a narrowing time … Continue reading

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Harris County GOP drops its lawsuit over election night vote dropoffs

It wasn’t getting anywhere, anyway. The Harris County GOP on Friday dropped its lawsuit, filed on the day of last month’s primary runoff election, challenging the county’s plan for counting ballots. Local Republican party officials argued the county’s ballot transport protocol violated … Continue reading

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We have finalists for the Election Administrator job

Good. The director of voting for Harris County will become the interim elections administrator, officials said Wednesday as the county elections commission narrowed its search for the permanent job to two candidates. Following a closed-door executive session of the Harris … Continue reading

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There was definitely an improvement in mail ballot acceptance for the primary runoffs

The last time I looked, I was largely unable to find any news stories about mail ballots and their rejection rates for the May primary runoff elections, with the exception of one story about Bexar County and how they were … Continue reading

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A better mail ballot

I’m glad someone’s working on this. After thousands of mail-in ballots were rejected in Texas’ statewide primaries in March, election officials and voting rights groups are stepping up efforts to make sure voters don’t run into the same problems with … Continue reading

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Runoff results: Around the state

After the primary, I rounded up the Democratic runoffs we’d have in May. I’m going to use that post to round up the results from last night, as best as I can tell as of when I gave up the … Continue reading

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Runoff results: Harris County

As with the statewide roundup, here are the results from Harris County. As of 10 PM, 99 of 260 voting centers had reported, so while these results aren’t final, it seems likely to me that not much will change. Congressional … Continue reading

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The election night experience

Let me start off by saying that my heart breaks for everyone in Uvalde. I cannot begin to fathom the pain and loss they are experiencing. I don’t know when we as a society will act to protect people from … Continue reading

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Hey look! Some info about mail ballots in the May election!

It’s not much, but I’ll take what I can get. For the second time in less than two weeks, Texans are heading back to the polls to decide on a host of statewide and local elections. Voters are deciding who … Continue reading

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Tomorrow is Primary Runoff Day

You know the drill, this is your last chance to vote in the primary runoffs. We will finally have the 2022 lineup set for November and can concentrate all of our attention and attacks on the other guys. The map … Continue reading

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2022 primary runoff Day Five EV report: Yes, I have some info about mail ballots

Early voting has concluded for the primary runoffs. Here’s the final EV report, and here are the final totals: Party Mail Early Total ============================== Dem 16,767 25,294 42,061 GOP 13,187 50,498 63,685 You can compare to Day Three. As is … Continue reading

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On reporting election night results faster

Not sure about this. Ahead of next week’s primary runoff elections, Harris County officials are recruiting county staffers to help speed up the results by picking up ballots at polling locations and driving them to the county’s central count location. … Continue reading

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