Tag Archives: Texas Civil Rights Project

Abbott’s stay-in-jail order blocked and then unblocked

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This was Friday. A state district judge in Travis County has temporarily blocked enforcement of Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to limit jail releases during the new coronavirus pandemic. She cited unconstitutional provisions and overreach of executive power in the gubernatorial … Continue reading →

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Another lawsuit filed over Abbott’s stay-in-jail order

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There’s no slowdown in the litigation business, that’s for sure. Gov. Greg Abbott’s order restricting the release of some jail inmates during the new coronavirus pandemic is facing a second court challenge arguing his order violates the constitutional separation of … Continue reading →

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Intervening in the mail ballot expansion lawsuit

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: The ACLU of Texas, American Civil Liberties Union, and Texas Civil Rights Project on Wednesday joined a case seeking to declare that under Texas law all registered voters qualify to request a mail-in ballot as a result … Continue reading →

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Still trying to do something about the coronavirus risk in the jail

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Time is extremely limited for this. A federal judge Friday asked lawyers to hammer out a plan for releasing about 1,000 indigent inmates detained on bonds of $10,000 or less amid fear of a COVID-19 outbreak at the third largest … Continue reading →

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Abbott delays primary runoffs

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

So this was originally going to be a post about what various groups have been advocating for the primary runoffs. And then Greg Abbott went and pushed the runoffs back to July without addressing any of the other concerns that … Continue reading →

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Abbott addresses vote by mail possibilities

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

He’s thinking about it. Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledged on Tuesday that he has the authority to postpone May 26 runoff elections or conduct them exclusively via mail-in ballots in response to the coronavirus. “Everything’s on the table,” Abbott told reporters … Continue reading →

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All mail ballots for the primary runoffs are being discussed

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is a pleasant surprise. Texas is not making any moves to delay the May 26 primary runoff as of now, even as other states have opted to postpone elections. But election officials have had preliminary conversations about the potential … Continue reading →

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We need to talk about those lines

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I wish we could talk about something else, but we have to do this. Dozens of Democratic voters were still waiting to cast ballots at midnight in Houston, turning Super Tuesday into a painful slog for some citizens amid questions … Continue reading →

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The next round in the Motor Voter 2.0 lawsuit

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Score one for the plaintiffs. Finding Texas in violation of federal law, a U.S. judge gave civil rights lawyers a small win Thursday — fueling hopes of a wider victory in a continuing fight over the state’s online voter registration … Continue reading →

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“Motor voter” lawsuit 2.0

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Try, try again, this time hopefully addressing the cause of the Fifth Court of Appeals’ rejection of the first lawsuit. The first time former English professor Jarrod Stringer was told he couldn’t vote in a Texas election, he sued. A … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit overturns “motor voter” lawsuit verdict

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Bummer. Totally expected and completely on brand for the Fifth Circuit, but a bummer nonetheless. A federal appeals court has overturned a previous ruling that could have opened the door to online voter registration in Texas. In a Wednesday court … Continue reading →

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Voting centers everywhere

Posted on September 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

In Dallas: Starting in November, problems like Mr. Voter’s, at least in Dallas County, will be a thing of the past. Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office officially gave the county permission to participate in the countywide voting … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over mail ballot practices

Posted on August 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We haven’t had a good voting rights lawsuit in a few months. In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Antonio, [two] voters — George Richardson of Brazos County and Rosalie Weisfeld of McAllen — alleged that the state law … Continue reading →

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The main concern about voting centers

Posted on August 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This Trib story, which is about the implementation of voting centers in multiple counties across Texas for the 2020 election, delves into one of the main concern about them: Voting centers can change from one election to the next, which … Continue reading →

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The SOS voter purge may be over, but Ken Paxton is unaccounted for

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Keep an eye on this. After the judge approved the settlement, the original list of voters was scrapped. Under the agreement, Texas officials now will only flag names of people who have said they’re not citizens after they have registered … Continue reading →

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Settlement officially reached in lawsuits over bogus SOS advisory

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Great news. Three months after first questioning the citizenship status of almost 100,000 registered voters, the Texas secretary of state has agreed to end a review of the voter rolls for supposed noncitizens that was flawed from the start. The … Continue reading →

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TCRP report on Texas election administration problems

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today the Texas Civil Rights Project (“TCRP”) released a report—utilizing data from the largest non-partisan Election Protection effort in the state, provisional ballot data, as well as publicly available information—to analyze the the long-standing failures in Texas … Continue reading →

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Judge blocks any voter purges from the SOS advisory

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Let’s hope this lasts. In a major victory for voting rights groups, a federal judge has ordered that no Texas county should purge suspected noncitizen voters from the rolls or issue letters demanding that they prove their citizenship “without … Continue reading →

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Of course there are bills to do something with that bogus SOS advisory

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

What else did you expect? Among other things,  Senate Bill 960 and Senate Bill 953, filed late last week, would require voter registrars across the state to kick every person off the voter rolls who at one point said they were not a citizen … Continue reading →

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Civil rights groups want Whitley to not be confirmed

Posted on February 23, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

No kidding. More than 30 civil rights and community groups are calling on Senate Democrats to block the confirmation of embattled interim Secretary of State David Whitley, who oversaw the botched rollout of an investigation into the citizenship of tens … Continue reading →

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Three times a lawsuit

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Hat trick! A group of civil and voting rights organizations is suing the state’s chief election officers and local election officials in five counties, claiming Texas’ voter citizenship review efforts are unconstitutional because they intentionally target naturalized citizens and voters … Continue reading →

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Civil rights groups push back on bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Lawyers with 13 organizations — including the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund — are demanding that the state rescind an advisory sent to … Continue reading →

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Bail lawsuit 2.0

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This one will be tougher to tackle, but the principle remains the same. A hard-fought battle to reform Harris County’s bail system has prompted a second civil rights action. The legal team that successfully challenged the county’s bail practices for … Continue reading →

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How Dems took Hays County

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Three cheers for Texas State University. As the dust settles after last week’s election, the political identity of Hays County hangs in the balance: Is it red or blue? The rapidly growing Central Texas suburban county — Texas’ 22nd-largest by … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over late start times at several precincts

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This crap should not happen. After several polling locations in Harris County failed to open on time this morning, the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas Organizing Project are suing the county in hopes of extending Election Day voting … Continue reading →

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More campus voting issues

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Hello, Texas State. The long early voting line that wrapped around the LBJ Student Center earlier this week was a welcome sign to those at Texas State University who were hoping for strong enthusiasm among young voters on campus. But … Continue reading →

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The eSlate issue

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone please take a deep breath. Some straight-ticket voters have reported that voting machines recorded them selecting the candidate of another party for U.S. Senate, exposing a potential problem with the integrity of the state’s high-profile contest between U.S. Sen. … Continue reading →

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High schools need to do a better job of making voter registration available to students

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As the Texas Civil Rights Project notes, it is the law. In a report published today by the Texas Civil Rights Project, new data from October 2016 to February 2018 shows that just 34 percent of high schools in Texas … Continue reading →

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State asks for emergency stay of “motor voter” ruling

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Also as expected. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked a federal appeals court to block a San Antonio judge’s order that gave state officials 45 days to correct an online voter registration system that was found to violate federal law. … Continue reading →

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State appeals “motor voter” ruling

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise. The legal fight over whether Texas is disenfranchising thousands of voters by violating a federal voter registration law is on its way to federal appeals court. Just after a federal judge gave Texas less than two months to … Continue reading →

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State offers no fixes for “motor voter” law non-compliance

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked. Told it was breaking the law, and asked to propose a fix, Texas seems to have mostly declined. Following a ruling last month that Texas was violating a federal law designed to ease the voter registration … Continue reading →

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Revisiting online voter registration

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Camel’s nose in the tent alert. Texas could be forced to create at least one narrow avenue for online voter registration after a federal judge ruled that the state is violating the National Voter Registration Act, a decades-old federal law … Continue reading →

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State ordered to come up with fix for voter registration problems

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The clock is ticking. Texas has less than a week to tell a federal judge in San Antonio how it will begin complying with the National Voter Registration Act, a decades-old federal law aimed at making it easier for people … Continue reading →

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Texas loses another voting rights lawsuit

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone else detecting a pattern here? Handing the state another voting rights loss, a federal judge has sided with a civil rights group that claimed Texas violated federal law by failing to register residents to vote when they updated their … Continue reading →

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