Tag Archives: Secretary of State

SOS moves towards increasing vote by mail

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

How about that? Texas is opening the door to an expansion of mail-in voting during the coronavirus outbreak, though the state is unlikely to heed calls to have every voter cast ballots by mail to avoid exposure to COVID-19 at … Continue reading →

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The May elections will not happen

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not in May, anyway. Citing the state’s stay-at-home order, the Texas secretary of state is instructing municipalities to delay their May 2 elections. In an email to local election officials sent Thursday afternoon, the state’s director of elections, Keith Ingram, … 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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TDP files lawsuit to expand vote by mail

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

All right, then. Following fruitless negotiations over how to proceed with the upcoming primary runoff elections, Texas Democrats are looking to the courts to push for an expansion of voting by mail in the state. In a lawsuit filed in … 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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Moving the May elections

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Another possible method for coping with coronavirus. As the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday issued a proclamation that will allow municipalities to postpone their upcoming May 2 elections until November. The move comes … 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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Dallas County needs a recount

Posted on March 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Hoo boy. Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole discovered her office did not count about 10% of the ballots that voters cast on Super Tuesday. She is now asking a court to let her conduct a manual recount of the … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of Tax Assessor race

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I wasn’t expecting an interesting race here, at least not going into the filing season, but we have one. Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett is familiar with elections, appearing on the ballot five times in the last six … Continue reading →

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We should get full delegate results on Primary Day

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Texas counties have started seeing updates to the state’s election reporting system that will allow them to break out the vote totals needed to determine how many delegates are won by presidential contenders on Super Tuesday. The refinements to … Continue reading →

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Will we get full Presidential primary results from Texas on primary night?

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. As their counterparts in Iowa reel from a disastrously slow election returns process, Texas Democrats raised the prospect Wednesday that a change in the way Texas reports election results could delay the final tally of delegates won by presidential … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Another voter registration lawsuit filed

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This time, the point of contention is electronic signatures. In a federal lawsuit filed Monday in San Antonio, the Texas Democratic Party and the campaign arms for Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate allege that Texas is violating the … Continue reading →

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Filing report update

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’re a week out from the official filing deadline for the 2020 primaries. There’s still a lot of known candidates who haven’t filed yet, but I expect there will be a mad flurry of activity this week, as is usually … Continue reading →

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Second mobile voting locations lawsuit filed

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Same claims, different plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin. It is led by former Austin Assistant City Manager Terrell Blodgett, Texas Young Democrats (TYD) and Texas College … Continue reading →

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The County Clerk’s plan for the runoff

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Things should be back to normal, and those of us who have to know the final results before we go to bed will get a little more sleep. Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman on Tuesday said poll workers will drive … Continue reading →

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You really have to plan for every election

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Whether or not they actually happen. For months, Democrats Mark Watson and Mike Snipes have been running 2020 campaigns for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 6. They’ve raised money, filed official paperwork, gathered signatures, traveled to far corners of … Continue reading →

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So what happened with the election returns?

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The County Clerk puts the blame on the Secretary of State. Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman said a last-minute directive from the secretary of state caused significant delays in reporting election results on Tuesday evening. Trautman said an Oct. 23 … Continue reading →

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2019 election results: Houston and Metro

Posted on November 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Unfortunately, we have to start with this: Results of Tuesday’s election could take until 2 a.m. Wednesday after the Texas Secretary of State issued a new regulation that upended plans by the Harris County Clerk’s Office to speed vote counting. … Continue reading →

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The need for voter registration never ends

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A small step back, but I expect a big step forward next year. Democrats in Texas see registering new voters as crucial to winning statewide elections in 2020, but the number of registered voters in Harris County, the state’s largest, … 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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We have a new SOS

Posted on August 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Yippie. After losing his last chief election officer over a botched review of the state’s voter rolls, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed a new secretary of state: Ruth Ruggero Hughs. Ruggero Hughs is moving from the Texas Workforce Commission, … Continue reading →

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Harris County gets official approval for voting centers

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Full steam ahead. Harris County on Monday received permission to use voting centers, which enable voters to cast ballots at any location they choose, in high-turnout elections, County Clerk Diane Trautman announced. Under this system, voters are not required to … Continue reading →

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No SOS

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just in case you were wondering. Just as they do every year, hundreds of county officials from all over Texas are packing a hotel ballroom in Austin this week for three days of all things elections. On the agenda are … Continue reading →

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It’s not an apology that’s needed

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This may make for good rhetoric, but it’s not what the goal should be. Congressmen Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett on Friday demanded Gov. Greg Abbott apologize to Texas voters for attempting to purge as many as 95,000 people from … Continue reading →

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Paxton still holding on to bogus voter purge data

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about secrecy. He doesn’t want you to know what he’s up to. More than a month after a legal settlement was reached to scrap the review, Paxton’s office has indicated it is keeping open the criminal investigation file … Continue reading →

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It was Abbott all along

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Who was behind that botched voter purge that caused now-former Secretary of State David Whitley to not get confirmed by the Senate? Greg Abbott, that’s who. Two top officials at the Department of Public Safety named Gov. Greg Abbott’s office … Continue reading →

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“Laggards”

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

You can do something about that, you know. The Maryland congressman leading an investigation into the error-filled effort to purge suspected noncitizens from Texas voter rolls referred to Texas officials as “laggards” who are taking a “minimalist approach” to satisfying … Continue reading →

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Whitley lands on his feet

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Were you surprised? Former acting Secretary of State David Whitley, who resigned Monday after failing to be confirmed by senators following his botched oversight of an investigation that questioned the citizenship of nearly 100,000 voters in Texas, has landed back … Continue reading →

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Will the next SOS be any better than David Whitley?

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anything is possible, but don’t count on it. Voting rights advocates are celebrating Whitley’s forced departure, but said they have no illusions that his successor will be any more committed to upholding voting rights for all Texans. “There is certainly … Continue reading →

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Adios, David Whitley

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Sine die and see ya. The ill-fated tenure of Texas Secretary of State David Whitley has come to an end. The Texas Senate gaveled out Monday without confirming the state’s top election official, who served for less than half a … Continue reading →

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One simple thing the Republicans could do to maybe get David Whitley confirmed

Posted on May 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This is a long story about how Democratic Senators are being very careful to either be in attendance at all times or get a commitment that there won’t be a vote on Secretary of State David Whitley in the event … Continue reading →

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Paxton again refuses to comply with House Oversight Committee

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s like he has no interest in oversight, or something. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office this week again denied a request for a records by a U.S. House panel seeking to investigate the state’s botched voter purge program. […] … 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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