Tag Archives: absentee ballots

The Texas/Georgia comparison

Posted on April 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The main thrust of this story is that the Texas voter suppression bills are not as bad as the law Georgia passed. But as you can see, these laws are still Very Bad. After major corporations criticized Georgia for adopting … Continue reading →

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The propagandist’s advantage

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Discouraging, but we have to address the world as it is. Democratic state Sen. Royce West of Dallas was making a point. The number of prosecutions for voter fraud cases in the state of Texas is low. In its 15 … Continue reading →

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House committee passes its voter suppression bill

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I remain pessimistic about this, but we have no choice but to fight. A Texas House committee on Thursday advanced an elections bill that would make it a state jail felony for local election officials to distribute an application to … Continue reading →

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More local pushback against SB7 and HB6

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Mayor Sylvester Turner invited a diverse group of elected officials, community leaders, and business executives to stand in solidarity against voter suppression bills in the Texas Legislature. More than 50 individuals and organizations have vowed to fight … Continue reading →

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First major vote suppression bill passes

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing’s going to stop them. Senate Republicans on Thursday cleared the way for new, sweeping restrictions to voting in Texas that take particular aim at forbidding local efforts meant to widen access. In an overnight vote after more than seven … Continue reading →

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A bit of business pushback against voter suppression

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a start, but much more is needed. A group of 72 Black business leaders are calling on companies to publicly oppose a series of bills being advanced by Republicans in at least 43 states that could dramatically curb access … Continue reading →

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The Briscoe Cain follies

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. The Texas House Elections Committee abruptly ended its meeting [Thursday] before about 200 people who traveled to the Capitol could testify on a controversial anti-voter fraud bill. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, who chairs … Continue reading →

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It’s Voter Suppression Week in the Senate

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Delayed by a day, but that won’t stop anything. Republican lawmakers in Texas are attempting to cement more bricks into the wall they hope will shield their hold on power from the state’s changing electorate. After more than 20 years … Continue reading →

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We have a poll that says people oppose more voting restrictions

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A good sign, just remember our mantra about polls. As state Republicans push to restrict voting, a new poll shows a majority of Texans want more time to vote early and do not approve of threatening voters or those who … Continue reading →

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Republicans roll out their big voter suppression bill

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

They can’t do anything about blackouts or floods or COVID vaccinations, but they sure can do this. Joining a nationwide movement by Republicans to enact new restrictions on voting, Gov. Greg Abbott indicated Monday he will back legislation to outlaw … Continue reading →

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The Republican attack on Harris County voting

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s straight up retaliation for Harris County getting positive national attention for going out of its way to make it easier to vote in 2020. Harris County made a big push to expand mail-in and early voting during the 2020 … Continue reading →

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Who believes in the myth of voter fraud?

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Republicans do. Next question. A new University of Houston survey reveals the stark partisan divide among Texans on the issue of voter fraud in the November election. The survey found that 87 percent of Democrats believe there was no widespread … Continue reading →

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How Greg Abbott wants to restrict voting

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

More from that Trib story following the State of the State address. As part of his State of the State speech, Abbott designated five emergency items, or items that lawmakers can vote on within the first 60 days of session. … Continue reading →

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Why isn’t COVID an emergency item?

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Ask Greg Abbott. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday unveiled a legislative agenda centered on the state’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and a series of more politically charged issues such as police funding and “election integrity.” In his biennial State … Continue reading →

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UH Hobby School poll: Popular things are popular

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

That’t the main takeaway here. More than two-thirds of Texans support raising some new taxes and using the state’s rainy day fund to patch budget shortfalls from the pandemic, according to a new survey by the University of Houston’s Hobby … Continue reading →

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If we’re lucky, Congress will short circuit the Lege’s attempts to curtail voting

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

That would be nice. Elections have consequences. So does the Republican enabling of the worst, most corrupt chief executive in the nation’s history. Hence, the first piece of legislation to be introduced in the new Democratic Senate will be S. 1, The for the … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS rejects TDP petition on vote by mail

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Back to the lower court, I think. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a Democratic bid to force universal vote-by-mail in Texas, leaving intact a state law that lets people cast no-excuse absentee ballots only if they are 65 or … Continue reading →

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How bad will the attack on voting be this session?

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hard to say, but there’s no reason to be particularly optimistic. As the country’s political polarization reaches a boiling point — illustrated vividly Wednesday by the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the president who believed his … Continue reading →

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What is the direction of voting by mail?

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It was different in 2020, but that doesn’t mean it’s permanently different. Democratic voters in Texas were more likely to cast their ballots by mail than Republican voters in the last election. Today, that may sound like a forgone conclusion, … Continue reading →

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The Republican war against Harris County

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

To be fair, it’s not just Harris County that’s in the crosshairs, it’s the big urban counties, and cities in general. But it’s real and it’s dangerous and it’s anti-democratic. Republicans in the Texas Legislature are gearing up to bar … Continue reading →

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So is anyone going to try to collect Dan Patrick’s reward money?

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a nice little research paper for you: On November 10, 2020, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick put out a press release stating, in relevant part, “[S]tarting today [I] will pay up to $1 million to incentivize, encourage and reward … Continue reading →

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The proper level of seriousness

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Meet John Fetterman (if you haven’t already), Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania and America’s foremost Dan Patrick troll. All John Fetterman wants for Christmas is the $3 million he says Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick owes him. The Democratic lieutenant governor … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton’s attempted jihad against Harris County

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Attorney General Ken Paxton tried to get the Trump administration to revoke millions in federal COVID relief funding that Harris County budgeted for expanding mail-in voting earlier this year, newly revealed records show. Paxton wrote in a May 21 … Continue reading →

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TDP asks SCOTUS to review age discrimination claim in mail voting

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today, the Texas Democratic Party and voters filed their final brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking its review of the case filed last Spring which challenged the constitutionality of Texas’s law that limits voting by mail, … Continue reading →

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Now we wait on SCOTUS

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The state of Texas filed its reply to the defendants’ responses to its democracy–killing lawsuit, and, well, it’s something. This brings us the Texas AG Ken Paxton’s reply–or, rather, replies, as there are multiple filings, including a motion to enlarge … Continue reading →

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I remain pessimistic about the chances of good voting bills passing

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This Trib story suggests that with Republicans doing well in the high turnout 2020 election, and with the emergency measures that were implemented to expand voting access, the odds of getting a bill passed to make some forms of voting … Continue reading →

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What the Early Voting Ballot Board does

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

They were especially important this year. In the wake of the Nov. 3 general election, the air is filled with an overwhelming amount of disinformation about vote counting, specifically as it relates to mail ballots and provisional ballots. In Michigan, … Continue reading →

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Our nanny state and vote by mail applications

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Sen. Paul Bettencourt purses his lips and wags his finger and is very disappointed in your county government. Republican state lawmakers have filed bills to codify the Texas Supreme Court decision that blocked Harris County from sending mail ballot applications … Continue reading →

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What might the Lege do to make voting easier, or harder?

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I confess, I didn’t read most of this story about the various problems some people had in voting, and the various theories as to what was happening during voting, mostly because it contained way too many quotes from Jared Woodfill. … Continue reading →

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A few words about election security

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray talks to my friend Dan Wallach about everybody’s favorite subject. If I’m aiming to steal an election, what’s the best way to go about it? Are mail-in ballots the easiest? If your goal is to steal an election, … Continue reading →

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A few observations from the final unofficial countywide data

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is still unofficial, and there will still be some overseas/military ballots to be counted as well as some provisional ballots to be cured, but the count of the votes cast by Election Day is over, and we have the … Continue reading →

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Tarrant County has gone (tentatively) blue

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

At the Presidential level, with votes still being counted. Though President Donald Trump has been declared the winner in Texas, former Vice President Joe Biden has taken the lead with the latest results in Tarrant County. Biden had a 427 … Continue reading →

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Followup omnibus Election Day post

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Wanted to clear up some loose ends from the late night/early morning post and add a couple of things I’d missed the first time around. I’ll have a longer “thoughts and reactions” post probably tomorrow. – The district results from … Continue reading →

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A few thoughts about Election 2020 before Tuesday

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a brain dump, to get this all out there before we find out what happened. Let’s start with this: After the conclusion of three weeks of early voting, 9.7 million Texans have cast ballots, crushing previous early voting totals … Continue reading →

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