Tag Archives: absentee ballots

Nobody is voting by mail in the District G special election

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the early voting report through Saturday for the District G special election. A total of 1,608 ballots have been cast in the first six days, of which 1,569 have been in person and thirty-nine (39) have been by mail. … Continue reading →

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Lots of mail ballot applications are being rejected now

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is a feature, not a bug. Hundreds of Texans seeking to vote by mail in the upcoming March primary elections are seeing their applications for ballots rejected by local election offices trying to comply with stricter voting rules enacted … Continue reading →

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Fraudit fizzling

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Who could have ever predicted this would be a big ol’ nothingburger? The Texas secretary of state’s office has released the first batch of results from its review into the 2020 general election, finding few issues despite repeated, unsubstantiated claims … Continue reading →

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Preliminary injunction sought against mail ballot restrictions

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. Today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and the Harris County Attorney’s Office moved for a preliminary injunction in Longoria v. Paxton, their challenge … Continue reading →

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2021 runoff results

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here are the vote totals, and here’s an early Chron story which has the results right but was just before the last batch came in. To summarize: – Sue Deigaard had the only easy night – she led by 30+ … Continue reading →

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It’s 2021 Runoff Day

Posted on December 11, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

. Have you got your #IVoted sticker? Ballot box with ballot Ballots include runoffs for HISD, HCC, City of Bellaire and Missouri City. ⌚ Election Day is Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mobile phone with rightwards arrow at … Continue reading →

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Final 2021 runoff early voting totals

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The last day of early voting is always the busiest. (Well, other than the 2020 election, but you get the idea.) Early voting for four Houston ISD board seats and local council races ended Tuesday with 21,732 ballots cast, according … Continue reading →

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2021 runoff early voting report: Just checking in

Posted on December 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t been following the daily early voting reports for the runoffs very closely. Only a small portion of the populace is voting, so comparisons to the November EV totals don’t mean anything. But we’re most of the way through … Continue reading →

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Justice Department sues Texas over the voter suppression law

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Specifically, they are challenging a couple of specific provisions of the law. The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday sued Texas over its new voting law, expanding its effort to challenge Republican-backed measures passed in state legislatures. The lawsuit, brought by … Continue reading →

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November 2021 final early voting totals

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A busy final day, and a significant uptick in early votes over 2017. Friday was the last day to vote early in the 2021 school board and state constitutional amendment elections with early numbers showing an uptick in turnout in … Continue reading →

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2021 Day Seven EV report: After the weekend

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s get right to it: These are the early voting totals for the 2021 election after Sunday: Mail ballots: 36,517 In person: 19,901 You can see the full Day Seven report here. The “voters by type” breakdown on the last … Continue reading →

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2021 Day Five EV report: A one week checkin

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

One work week, anyway. Here are the vote totals after five days of early voting. The first thing to notice is that about 70% of the votes cast so far have been by mail: Mail ballots = 36,517 Early in … Continue reading →

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2021 Day One EV report: Everyone likes voting by mail

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of mail ballots have been cast so far. Much more than any other kind. Early voting began Monday for a handful of area school board and municipal races, state constitutional amendments and hundreds of millions of dollars in school … Continue reading →

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One more lawsuit against Texas’ voter suppression law

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From Mi Familia Vota: Non-profit civic engagement organization Mi Familia Vota, along with individual voters, filed suit today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio seeking to block a new voter suppression … Continue reading →

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Three more lawsuits filed against the voter suppression law

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a law now, and the legal machines are humming to do something about it. Though delayed by Democratic quorum breaks, Texas has officially joined the slate of Republican states that have enacted new voting restrictions following the 2020 election. … Continue reading →

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First two lawsuits filed against the voter suppression bill

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

No time wasted. The top elections official in Harris County and a host of organizations that serve Texans of color and Texans with disabilities have fired the opening salvos in what’s expected to be an extensive legal battle over Texas’ … Continue reading →

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It doesn’t matter what the polls say about the voter suppression bill

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another poll to demonstrate why. A new survey from Rice University underscores the deepening partisan chasm over provisions in the controversial GOP priority elections bill. For example, 46 percent of Harris County Republicans polled who participated in the county’s … Continue reading →

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Voter suppression bill passes out of House committee

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. A Texas House committee on Monday advanced the GOP-backed voting restrictions bill that first prompted Democrats to stall legislative work during a weekslong quorum break. The 9-5 party-line vote on the revived legislation, Senate Bill 1, is … Continue reading →

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Day 13 quorum busting post: Just a reminder, the voter suppression bill still sucks

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll get to that in a minute, but first there’s this bit of business. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, signed a civil warrant for the arrest of state Rep. Philip Cortez, a San Antonio Democrat who rejoined his colleagues … Continue reading →

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The Virus And The Vote

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

As you may recall, there were a lot of concerns going into the 2020 election about the potential for things to go horribly wrong. Books were written about the weak points in our bizarre and super-distributed system for running and … Continue reading →

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Disabled voters worry about getting screwed by SB7

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It won’t be called SB7 in the special session on voter suppression, but you know what I mean. Texas Republicans have pursued broad efforts this year to ratchet up voting restrictions in the aftermath of a high-turnout election that saw … Continue reading →

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First post-legislative session voting rights lawsuit filed

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Surely not the last. In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, a Latino civil rights group and a voting rights group say a bill signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott last week that prevents Texans from using a commerical … Continue reading →

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More on the post-quorum break fallout

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This Trib story mostly centers on the perspective of the Black legislators during the SB7 fight, and it’s a good read for that, but I want to focus on this bit here: While the legislation in the Senate partly targeted … Continue reading →

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The House is working on the omnibus voter suppression bill.

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

They started last night, and who knows when they may finish. If it comes to a vote, I expect this Trib story will be updated to reflect it. One of the justifications given by Republicans for banning all-night voting hours … Continue reading →

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The final version of the voter suppression bill is out

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s bad. Emerging from closed-door negotiations between the Texas House and Senate, a GOP priority bill to enact new restrictions on voting has swelled beyond what each chamber originally passed to limit local control of elections and curtail voting options, … Continue reading →

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SOS Hughs resigns

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

In retrospect, I should have seen this coming. Texas Secretary of State Ruth Ruggero Hughs announced Friday she will step down from her post as the state’s top elections official, less than two years into her term. The decision comes … Continue reading →

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GHP finally says something about voter suppression

Posted on May 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Weak. After days of external pressure from Harris County politicians and internal calls from board members to speak out against voting bills in the Texas Legislature, the Greater Houston Partnership on Thursday evening issued a broad condemnation of efforts to … Continue reading →

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House passes its omnibus voter suppression bill

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

But don’t bother asking what’s in the bill, because it’s going to change and we won’t know what’s in the real bill until it’s time for a final vote in both chambers. As opposition to Texas Republicans’ proposed voting restrictions continues … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend says No to GHP

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Fort Bend County Judge KP George said Thursday the county will not consider becoming a member of the Greater Houston Partnership following the group’s silence on bills in the state Legislature that he called “suppressive pieces of legislation reminiscent … Continue reading →

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Turner and Hidalgo rebuke GHP over voting rights failure

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo no longer plan to hold their annual state of the city and county addresses with the Greater Houston Partnership because of the chamber group’s silence on bills in the … Continue reading →

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Businesses finally offer some real resistance to voter suppression

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

About time. With less than a month left in the legislative session — and Texas Republicans split on which package of proposals might cross the finish line — Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Unilever, Patagonia and two dozen other companies are urging state … Continue reading →

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Trib polling roundup, part 1

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

On COVID and vaccinations. Texas voters are feeling safer about being out in public, and better about getting COVID-19 vaccines, but a majority of the state’s voters still consider the coronavirus a “significant crisis,” according to a new University of … Continue reading →

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Briscoe Cain’s latest follies

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This guy, I swear. After an early misfire, House Republicans on Thursday succeeded in pushing their proposed restrictions on voting to the legislative forefront as the Texas Legislature’s 2021 session enters its final sprint. The House Elections Committee’s Republican majority … Continue reading →

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Making voting worse

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve spent a lot of time this year writing about how Republicans in the Legislature want to make it harder to vote. That’s undeniably true, but it doesn’t fully capture what’s going on. Voting is a thing that most of … Continue reading →

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