Tag Archives: absentee ballots

County Clerk scales back mail ballot application sendout for now

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like a wise tactical move. The Harris County clerk is holding off his plan to send ballot applications to every registered voter in Harris County. County Clerk Chris Hollins said for now he is going to send ballot applications … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit hears arguments on vote by mail case

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

One more try before it’s too late to make a difference for this year. The Texas Democratic Party’s lawyer argued today before a federal appeals court that the state is unlawfully discriminating against the majority of the voting-age population by … Continue reading →

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And now the state has sued to stop the Clerk’s mail ballot application program

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Such a busy day in court. Acting at the request of the secretary of state, the Texas attorney general on Monday sued Harris County after it refused to drop plans to send applications for mail-in ballots for the November general … Continue reading →

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Hotze and the Harris County GOP try to stop the Clerk from sending out mail ballot applications

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s mandamus time! Again. The Harris County Republican Party on Monday joined a lawsuit asking the Texas Supreme Court to halt the county clerk’s plan to send mail ballot applications to all 2.4 million registered voters. The lawsuit accuses County … Continue reading →

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A word about mail ballot drop boxes

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I learned something in this story. Travis County voters nervous about delays with the post office will be able to hand-deliver mail-in ballots or drop them off at drive-thru sites this fall, County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said Tuesday. “If they … Continue reading →

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SOS objects to Hollins’ mail ballot application plan

Posted on August 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose this was inevitable. In a letter dated Aug. 27, Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Texas secretary of state, told Harris County to “immediately halt” its plans to send every registered voter in the county an application … Continue reading →

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Harris County goes all in on voting access

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Harris County voters this November will have more time and more than a hundred additional places to cast ballots in the presidential election, including drive-through locations and one day of 24-hour voting, under an expansive plan approved by Commissioners … Continue reading →

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Weekend voting litigation news

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I have two news items about voting-related lawsuits. Both of these come via the Daily Kos Voting Rights Roundup, which has been increasingly valuable to me lately, given the sheer number of such lawsuits and the fact that some news … Continue reading →

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Hollins asks for some slack on when mail ballots are received

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: On Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins sent a formal request to Governor Greg Abbott requesting that Governor Abbott extend the deadline by which county election administrators can receive mail ballots. The deadline for … Continue reading →

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Postal service update

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a reminder, destroying the US Postal Service has real effects on real people. Delays in mail sorting and processing are leaving Houston-area businesses, brides and voters wary of the coming months. Whether it’s essential medication, ballots or important letters … Continue reading →

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More on mail ballots

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a second story from the Trib on the attempted destruction of the Postal Service in the name of vote suppression by Donald Trump. “I think the goal of Donald Trump’s comments are to destabilize faith in voting systems and … Continue reading →

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Do not wait with your mail ballot

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You have been warned. The U.S. Postal Service has warned Texas officials that some ballots cast by mail may not arrive in time to be counted for the November election thanks to certain state deadlines for mail-in ballots being incompatible … Continue reading →

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Harris County to join TDP lawsuit over vote by mail

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

They do lots of stuff at Commissioners Court. Harris County Commissioners Court voted on Tuesday to join a lawsuit by Texas Democrats suing Gov. Greg Abbott to expand vote-by-mail in Texas. The Democratic-led commissioners court voted 3-2 to join the … Continue reading →

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Texas Dems ramp up mail ballot outreach

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a smart move, with some caveats. The Texas Democratic Party [announced] Monday that it is doubling down on its vote-by-mail campaign with a goal of reaching 1.7 million potential mail voters by the end of the month — the … Continue reading →

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More election innovation, please

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Some good stuff here: less than 90 days to E-Day & we’re pushing for Bexar to: ✅ send all 65+ reg voters app to vote by mail ✅ expand EV hrs to include at least one 24-hour site ✅ increase … Continue reading →

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Update on that other vote by mail lawsuit

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Daily Kos: A federal judge has rejected Republican Secretary of State Ruth Hughs’ motion to dismiss a case brought by several Texas voters and civil rights organizations seeking to expand access to absentee voting for the November general election. Plaintiffs are asking the … Continue reading →

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Making NRG Arena the 2020 election headquarters

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Sounds like a good idea. Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins is seeking permission from Commissioners Court to use NRG Arena as a headquarters for the fall presidential election, converting the expansive space for voting, ballot counting and a call center. … Continue reading →

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Abbott officially extends early voting for November

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just by a week, but at least the announcement has been made early. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday extended the early voting period for the November election by six days, citing continued challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Early … Continue reading →

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Some brief runoff thoughts

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You know the drill here… – The Election Night Results page at the SOS shows 955,735 votes total in the Democratic Senate runoff. That number is likely to increase a bit over the next few days, as we’ll see shortly. … Continue reading →

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Today is Primary Runoff Day

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Last chance to vote for your party’s nominees. From the inbox: Today, Tuesday, July 14th, is Election Day for the July 2020 Primary Runoff Elections.Voters can cast their ballots anytime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at any of the … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Final Totals: Democrats carry the day

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Today’s going to be a numbers-heavy post. Let’s start with Texas Elects, giving us a penultimate day summary: Early voting in person ended today (Friday) for the July 14 primary runoff and special elections. Through yesterday (Thursday), 532K people have … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Thursday: In which I get a look at the vote rosters

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

What’s a vote roster, you say? It’s a detailed list of everyone who voted in a particular election. You can find some recent ones, mostly pertaining to the 2020 elections so far, here. I’ve used the rosters from past elections … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Wednesday: This is all the vote by mail we’re going to get

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to start this update off with a bummer of a legal analysis from Vox’s Ian Millhiser: The Texas case, meanwhile, is Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, and the stakes in that case are simply enormous. Texas law permits voters … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Tuesday: A history of Democratic primary runoffs

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday I said that the turnout so far in the 2020 Democratic primary runoff was already historic. Today I’m going to show my work on that. Herewith is the 21st century history of Democratic primary runoff turnout for Harris County: … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Monday: A statewide look

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not going to keep track of what day number we’re at now, as it doesn’t really make sense anymore. But what we can do right now is have a look at how each party is doing with mail votes. … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day Five/Six: Apples and Oranges

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We are at the end of the first official early voting week for the 2020 primary runoffs. At this point, there have been five actual early voting days, as Friday and Saturday the polls were closed for the Independence Day … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day Four: Driven by Democrats

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting took Friday and yesterday off, but resumes today. Here’s where we stand after the first four days: Election Mail Early Total Mail % =========================================== D primary 15,101 25,254 40,355 37.4% R primary 16,528 24,778 41,306 40.0% D runoff … Continue reading →

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No fast track on vote by mail lawsuit

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I confess, I hadn’t been aware that this was in the hopper. The U.S. Supreme Court won’t fast-track a bid by Texas Democrats to decide whether all Texas voters can vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving in place … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Day One: People seem to like this vote by mail thing

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Big surprise, am I right? Harris County voters cast more than 51,000 ballots Monday in the primary runoffs, an eye-popping total that exceeded turnout for entire runoff elections in some recent years. Combined with a robust in-person turnout, voters had … Continue reading →

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Ready or not, here we vote

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Hope it goes all right. Poll workers [began] greeting voters from behind face masks and shields as early voting begins in primary runoffs that will look and operate differently from any Texas election in the past 100 years. Although the … Continue reading →

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No relief from SCOTUS on vote by mail

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is not really a surprise. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an initial bid by state Democrats to expand voting by mail to all Texas voters during the coronavirus pandemic. Justice Samuel Alito — whose oversight of federal courts … Continue reading →

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Early voting for primary runoffs starts tomorrow

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the runoffs? It’s time we settle who our nominees are. Who can vote in the runoffs? Texas has open primaries, meaning you don’t have to be a registered member of either party to cast a ballot in a primary … Continue reading →

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Straight ticket voting lawsuit tossed

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not a big surprise. A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Democrats’ effort to reinstate the straight-ticket voting option in Texas. Siding with the state, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo found that Democrats lacked standing to challenge Texas Republicans’ … Continue reading →

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Maybe we should have had this election in May

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, the irony. When the coronavirus threat was newer and seemed more immediate, Texas postponed its May elections to pick winners in several party primary runoffs, fearing the health risks of exposing voters and poll workers. With those statewide elections … Continue reading →

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