Hard to believe, it seems like this election has been going on since the late 90s, but we have one day of early voting to go. Your early voting results through Thursday, Day Eleven:
The numbers after eight days of early voting are
Mail = 54,272
In Person = 1,047,351
Total = 1,101,623
A small uptick from Wednesday but still less than 90K total. We’re going to need over 300K votes today to match the early vote total from 2020. I do think we’ll get a bigger Election Day turnout than we got in 2020, if only because it’s hard to imagine getting a smaller share of the vote on Election Day. Between tomorrow and Tuesday we’ll need about a half million votes to match the final tally from 2020, and we’ll need more than that to equal turnout as a percentage of registered voters. We’ll see what today brings. Anyone out there who still hasn’t voted yet? I voted on Wednesday.
I voted yesterday. No line, took just a few minutes.
I am amazed at the number of MAGATs that want one day, instead person voting on paper ballots.
Official Republican Positions:
From DonaldJTrump.com/platform: Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship
From the 252 plank Texas GOP platform for 2024:
220. In-Person Election Voting: In-person voting shall be conducted as a single period of time of no more than three days with no time gap between the first day of voting and Election Day. Election Day statutes must be used for the entire voting period.
221. Fair Elections Procedures: We support the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot in each election once, but we oppose illegal voting, illegal assistance, or allowing votes by ineligible persons.
We support:
a) Allowing, by open records request, a bit-by-bit forensic imaging of all electronic devices, including servers, at Central Counting immediately before and after each election.
b) Vigorous enforcement of all election laws as written, and we oppose any laws, lawsuits, and judicial decisions that make voter fraud very difficult to deter, detect, or prosecute.
c) Voter Photo ID.
d) Prohibition of remote electronic and internet voting for public office and any ballot measure.
e) That mail-in ballots must be requested and only granted to voters who cannot physically appear in-person, that the request must utilize the official application form only, and the ballots must arrive before 7 p.m. on Election Day (with the exception of APO addresses). Mail-in ballots should not be separated from their carrier envelopes until the polls close.
f) Felony status for willful violations of the Texas Election Code.
g) The constitutional authority of state legislatures to regulate voting, including disenfranchisement
of convicted felons and the opposition to the federal takeover of our elections.
h) Changes to the appropriate sections of Texas law that would deny or cancel a homestead exemption, driver license, and License to Carry if the addresses on those documents DO NOT match the address on the voter’s registration.
i) Consolidating elections to Primary, Runoff, Special Called, and General Election days and locations.
j) Sequentially numbered and signed paper ballots that contain anti-counterfeiting measures and are accounted through strong chain of custody procedures.
k) An amendment to the Texas Constitution to restore authority to the Texas Attorney General to prosecute election crimes.
l) The ability for civil lawsuits to be filed for election fraud or failure of officials to follow the Texas Election Code.
m) Allowing trained poll watchers from anywhere in Texas with local party or candidate approval.
n) Creating processes that will allow rapid adjudication of election law violation disputes as they occur and before violations can be successfully perpetrated.
o) Direct prohibition on all types of preferential or ranked choice voting systems in ALL elections to include school board, municipal, county, statewide, and federal elections.
p) Striking Chapter 43.007 Countywide Polling Place Program in the Texas Election Code and requiring PRECINCT ONLY voting for any in-person voting with the using of paper poll books only.
q) The use of precinct-level, county-level, and state-level vote count verification processes and statistically based randomized audits.
r) Expanding write-once data memory cards from Central Counting Stations into precinct-level ballot counters (SB 1661, 88th Regular Session).
s) Having judges and DPS officers as election marshals that are trained in election law and making them available during elections to hear and resolve election-related cases, to include candidate eligibility.
t) Requiring persons who utilize the Reasonable Impediment Declaration to provide their thumbprints on the form for purposes of later verification.
u) Requiring the Texas Election Code to limit the number of voters that a voter assistant can assist to no more than three voters per election. This stipulation includes the entire duration of the voting period.
v) Requiring all State and Local Candidates to post a statement of their criminal history regarding any class A misdemeanors and felony offenses on their websites while they are running for public office.
222. Voter Registration: We support restoring integrity to the voter registration rolls and reducing voter fraud by:
a) Repealing all motor voter laws.
b) Requiring voters to re-register if they have not voted in a five-year period.
c) Requiring photo ID proof of citizenship with the voter registration application for all registrants.
d) Retaining the 30-day registration deadline.
e) Conducting periodic checks on the voter rolls to ensure all currently registered voters are eligible, with penalties for election officials not performing the checks.
f) Giving the Secretary of State enforcement authority to ensure county registrar compliance with Secretary of State directives.
g) Revising Title 19 funding to avoid incentivizing retention of ineligible voters.
h) Promoting a collaboration between states to ensure accuracy in Texas voter rolls without an interstate cross-check system.
i) Having all Texas counties integrate into the Texas Secretary of State voter roll platform. No Texas county shall use a third party to manage, in any form, that county’s voter roll.
228. Hand-Counting Procedures: We support the rights of counties that are willing and able to competently and efficiently implement voting procedures that do not require the use of machines, and support implementing hand-counting procedures that are more efficient, verifiable, secure, fully auditable, and transparent, with video of each ballot and each counting station, through appropriate changes to Chapter 65 of the Texas Election Code.
It might be time to double-check the links on the side of the blog. By the Bayou is porn now.
Other than that, I voted last week. Waited far too long because there weren’t enough check-in workers and they seemed unhappy and disinterested. I don’t see much voter enthusiasm locally, but I hope I’m wrong.
They left out the part about repealing the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments.