Tag Archives: Election 2018

The rejected mail ballots of Bexar County

I have four things to say about this. Bexar County rejected mail-in ballots at roughly ten times the rate it did before the passage of the state’s new voting law last year. Before Senate Bill 1 took effect, with its … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Final 2022 primary vote totals from those counties of interest

At the end of early voting, I posted some totals from various counties around the state. I noted at the time it was an imprecise comparison since I included final 2018 turnout numbers as the comparison point for 2022 and … Continue reading

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The Dem runoff for AG is not fully settled

First place in the Democratic primary for Attorney General went to Rochelle Garza. Second place is still somewhat of a question. Two days after election day in the March primary, the Democratic race for attorney general is still not settled. … Continue reading

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Initial post-election wrapup

Just a few updates and observations to add onto what I posted yesterday morning. Any deeper thoughts, if I have them, will come later. – Cheri Thomas and William Demond won their races for the 14th Court of Appeals. I … Continue reading

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Some thoughts on Primary Day

Will we learn more about the mail ballot debacle? Mail ballot usage during early voting has dropped precipitously since 2018, with tens of thousands of voters — especially Republicans — ditching the forms after two years of the GOP’s baseless … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting statewide

Turnout information for early voting for all counties is available on the Secretary of State website. They used to only have this for the 30 most populous counties, which skewed things in a Democratic direction, but a law passed in … Continue reading

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Final 2022 primary early voting totals

It’s been a strange two weeks for early voting, so let’s get to the wrapup. Here are your final early voting totals. The table for comparison: Election Mail Early Total ================================ 2018 D 22,695 70,152 92,847 2018 R 24,500 61,425 … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day Eight : Time for the upswing

I still think it’s a little weird to have a day off from voting in the middle of early voting. Either tack on an extra day at one end or the other or modify the calendar to avoid the holiday. … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day Seven : All caught up now

This year, the Monday of early voting was in Week One. In 2018 and 2020, it was in Week Two. Maybe we could do this at a time that doesn’t include Presidents Day? Just a thought. In any event, in … Continue reading

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On naming a replacement for Judge Briones

I have three things to say about this. Three years ago, Bill McLeod lost his spot on the civil county court-at-law bench in Harris County due to a paperwork snafu. McLeod, a Democrat, had been presiding over Harris County Court … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day Four: Dan Patrick contributes to the mail ballot problem

This fucking guy, I swear to God. Thousands of applications for mail-in ballots submitted by Texas voters have been delayed — and some voters may ultimately not receive ballots — because Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s campaign instructed eligible voters to … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day Three: Mail ballots still getting rejected

Story time. Thousands of mail-in ballots have been sent back to voters statewide over new identification requirements, the latest in a saga of election troubles linked to Texas’ new voting law. Early voting is now well underway for the March … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day Two: Voting by mail is hard

Gonna start with a Twitter thread today: . We also got a heartbreaking call from a disabled voter, who is homebound & is being asked to re-register so they can get an ID # on file for him & he … Continue reading

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2022 primary early voting, Day One: Let’s get this started

I’ll jump right in. Here are your Day One early voting totals. The table for comparison: Election Mail Early Total ================================ 2018 D 4,174 3,883 8,007 2018 R 6,138 3,509 9,647 2020 D 11,571 6,819 18,390 2020 R 12,890 5,411 … Continue reading

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We don’t really need more prosecutors on the bench

Ugh. On a winter afternoon nine months into the pandemic, Harris County district attorney Kim Ogg held a Zoom meeting with felony judges and prosecutors to discuss the backlog of cases caused by COVID-19 shutdowns at the downtown Houston courthouse. … Continue reading

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On to the next mail ballot problem

A lot of the people who managed to fill out the mail ballot application form correctly have failed to fill in the newly-required voter ID information on the ballot and have to get that fixed or have their ballot tossed. … Continue reading

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January 2022 campaign finance reports: Congress

The filing deadline has passed, the primary lineups are set, and we have a new set of races and candidates to review. As was the case in the past two cycles, I’ll follow the contested primaries as well as the … Continue reading

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Chron overview of the HD26 primary

I can’t do interviews in all of the primaries of interest, so I’m glad to see articles like this in the Chron, in which they sent out a brief Q&A to the two Democrats and one (incumbent) Republican running for … Continue reading

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Trib overview of the Democratic candidates for Lt Governor

It’s a good field, I’ll be happy to support any of them, but boy do I wish they’d all raise more money. Three Democrats are facing off in the lieutenant governor primary for the chance to challenge a veritable Goliath … Continue reading

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Three very early primary thoughts

1. After the exceedingly small number of mail ballots requested and cast in the District G special election, the primaries will be our next test of the SB1 effect on voting by mail. I will be interested to see if … Continue reading

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Huffman wins District G election

No runoff needed. Mary Nan Huffman, an attorney for the Houston Police Officers’ Union, has won a special election to become the next District G representative on City Council, according to the unofficial returns. With all voting centers reporting Tuesday … Continue reading

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District G special election final early turnout

I’m going to start this post with some numbers, to provide context. Election Mail Early E-Day Total Mail% Early% ========================================================== May09 Dist H 647 1,259 2,280 4,186 33.9% 45.5% May18 Dist K 1,737 1,867 1,531 5,135 41.2% 70.2% Jan22 Dist … Continue reading

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An early look at the primary for Commissioners Court, Precinct 4

I have a few thoughts about this. With a new Harris County precinct map in place, Democrats may have their best chance in a dozen years of capturing Precinct 4. That’s set up a fierce, three-way contest in the Democratic … Continue reading

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Filing update: This is why we have to wait a few days before we know for sure who’s running

In the end, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher avoided a contested primary. In less than 24 hours, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher went from having a competitive primary election in March to getting a free pass to the November general election for Houston’s … Continue reading

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Filing update: More candidates than you can count

This headline and first paragraph are short by a couple of candidates. A dozen potential challengers to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo were among the scores who filed ahead of Monday’s deadline to run for county offices next year. […] … Continue reading

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We are making progress on the flood bond projects

Let’s not lose sight of that. Three years into Harris County’s historic $2.5 billion flood bond program, progress can feel maddeningly slow. After decades of underinvestment in flood protection, however, any completed project is a welcome improvement for nearby residents. … Continue reading

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Kim Olson running for TDP Chair

Of interest. A retired Air Force colonel and former nominee for agriculture commissioner is running for chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Kim Olson is the first major candidate to announce a challenge to the party’s current leader, Gilberto Hinojosa, … Continue reading

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Filing update: Judge Hidalgo makes it official

She has filed for re-election, in case you had thought there was some other possibility. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced her 2022 re-election campaign Friday afternoon as she filed paperwork at the Harris County Democratic Party headquarters. Although progress … Continue reading

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Beto and South Texas

Brace yourself for a lot of stories like this in the coming months. In the first days of his campaign for governor, Beto O’Rourke made a beeline to this southernmost corner of the state, saying it was no mistake he … Continue reading

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A brief filing update

Just a few observations as we head out of the holiday season and into what I expect will be the busier part of the filing period. I’m using the Patrick Svitek spreadsheet, the SOS candidate filing resource, and the candidate … Continue reading

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The growing field for Land Commissioner

We have some interesting candidates on our side. A member of a South Texas family that owns one of the largest ranches in the country is seeking the Democratic nomination for Texas land commissioner, the statewide office overseeing the Alamo’s … Continue reading

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Gina Calanni joins the Commissioners Court Precinct 4 race

We’re up to three Democratic candidates for Harris County Commissioners Court in Precinct 4 as former State Rep. Gina Calanni throws her hat in. The announcement can be seen here, but it’s an embedded image so I’m not going to … Continue reading

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Joy Diaz

A bit of “potential candidate” news is tucked into this story about the current state of the Democratic statewide slate. If Democrats had a mantra, it would probably be something like “diversity and inclusion.” So it’s kind of strange that … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: The new State House map

Like it or not, we have new State House districts. We may as well acquaint ourselves with them. The coverage we’ve had so far has focused on the 2020 election numbers to say whether a district will be red or … Continue reading

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