Tag Archives: Election 2020

Final November 2022 EV totals: Catching up

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

First, some slightly outdated numbers from the Chron. Fewer Harris County voters cast ballots during this year’s early voting period than in the 2020 and 2018 elections, according to unofficial voter counts released after polls closed on Friday night. From … Continue reading →

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We have already entered Speaker’s Race season

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

And I’m already exhausted. State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, announced Friday he is running for speaker, challenging fellow Republican Dade Phelan. Tinderholt is one of the furthest-right Republicans in the chamber, and in a statement, he made clear he would … Continue reading →

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John Scott keeps wanting to have it both ways

Posted on November 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

You’re kind of close to getting it, John. You do need to do better, though. Speaking in July to a group of concerned conservative voters in Dallas, Texas Secretary of State John Scott declared that Texas elections were the nation’s … Continue reading →

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True the Vote leaders officially held in contempt

Posted on November 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

How long do you think they’ll be willing to sit in jail? Federal marshals escorted two leaders of True the Vote out of a Houston courtroom on Monday morning and into a holding cell. Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips have … Continue reading →

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Contempt of court in the True the Vote lawsuit

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Wilder and wilder. After a chaotic day of testimony on Thursday, a federal judge in Texas found Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips — known as leaders of the group True the Vote — in contempt of court. They are facing … Continue reading →

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What will Tarrant County do this year?

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Hoping for a blue result at the top and at least closer races below it, but we’ll see. Eight years after voting for Gov. Greg Abbott, Angela Martinez found herself waiting in line Tuesday to snap a photo with Beto … Continue reading →

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Univision: Abbott 46, Beto 42

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Another registered voters poll, with a supersample of Latino respondents. Republican Governor Greg Abbott leads Beto O’Rourke in the Texas governors’ race by more than four points, even though the Democrat has more support among Latinos and Blacks. The increase … Continue reading →

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Charges dropped against Hervis Rogers

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good, but this whole thing was an enraging travesty and in no way makes things right. Voter fraud charges against Hervis Rogers, who garnered widespread attention for waiting hours in line to vote at a Houston polling location during the … Continue reading →

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UT/Texas Politics Project: Abbott 54, Beto 43

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not great. With in-person early voting set to begin in Texas on October 24, the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll finds Gov. Greg Abbott leading Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke in the gubernatorial race, 54%-43%, among Texans likely to … Continue reading →

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State and county election result relationships, part 3: Other county races

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Part One Part Two Last time we looked at judicial races, which for all of the complaints about not knowing the candidates and just going by partisan labels have produced a consistent range of outcomes over the years. Some people … Continue reading →

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SOS inserts itself

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the damn fraudit again. The Texas secretary of state’s office on Tuesday warned Harris County officials it still is missing information about the chain of custody for certain election materials in its ongoing audit of the 2020 election. In … Continue reading →

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State and county election result relationships, part 2: Judicial races

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

In Part One of this series, we looked at the relationship between statewide results and Harris County results for statewide candidates. In the last three elections, statewide Democratic candidates have done on average more than nine points better in Harris … Continue reading →

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State Bar complaint against Ted Cruz was dismissed

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This story ran a few days ago. A lawyer group that brought ethics complaints against Trump attorneys is trying to make it tougher for lawyers to use the legal system to overturn elections. The group, called the 65 Project, aims … Continue reading →

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State and county election result relationships, part 1: How Harris compares

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between how statewide Democratic candidates do in Harris County versus how they do overall, and what that might tell us about the state of play in Harris County. Since I started … Continue reading →

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Today is a court day for Steven Hotze

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

As you may recall, local wingnut crackpot Steven Hotze was sued last May by air conditioner repairman David Lopez after a couple of Hotze goons led by former HPD Captain Mark Aguirre assaulted him on the road in an unhinged … Continue reading →

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I think you know the root cause of the problem, John

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I was fascinated by this Texas Monthly feature on Secretary of State John Scott, who is being pushed to reckon with the insane and dangerous levels of election denial and anti-democratic activism. I’m pretty sure he gets it, he just … Continue reading →

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The True the Vote lawsuit continues to be wild

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is crazy. Inside a nearly empty federal courtroom Thursday, a fiery argument broke out between a judge and the lawyers representing Texas-based nonprofit True the Vote in a defamation and computer fraud case filed by a Michigan-based election software … Continue reading →

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The professional vote-deniers are out there

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They’re probing the systems for weaknesses, a line that reminds me of the velociraptors in the original Jurassic Park. Except that the ‘raptors were sleek and efficient predators, while these guys are basically Pennywise with canned scripts and a huge … Continue reading →

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More on the lawsuit against True The Vote

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

NPR takes a deep dive. Konnech, a small Michigan company that makes election logistics software, says a “smear campaign” whipped up by the controversial group True the Vote has led to death threats and forced the company’s CEO to leave … Continue reading →

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District court judge dismisses State Bar complaint against Brent Webster

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is a bad ruling, and it needs to be appealed. A Texas district judge has dismissed a professional misconduct lawsuit against a top aide of Attorney General Ken Paxton seeking to discipline them for their effort to overturn the … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed against True the Vote

Posted on September 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, this will be fun to watch. A defamation and computer fraud lawsuit filed this week against Texas-based True the Vote asks a judge to essentially determine whether the election-integrity group’s campaign against a small election vendor constitutes slanderous lies … Continue reading →

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Let’s not go overboard about these voter registration numbers

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Sure it’s nice to see, but a little perspective is in order. In Texas, it’s not just women who are fired up about access to abortion and registering to vote in large numbers following this summer’s historic Supreme Court decision … Continue reading →

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More on the Gillespie County elections office resignations

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

From Votebeat, how this mess got started. Last November’s sleepy constitutional amendment election nearly came to blows in Gillespie County, a central Texas county known for its vineyards. A volunteer poll watcher, whose aggressive behavior had rankled election workers all … Continue reading →

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What do we expect from CD23?

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It was the perennial razor-close high-dollar swing district all last decade. Will Hurd won it three times, but never reached 50% in any of the three elections. It moved a few points towards the GOP in 2020 when Tony Gonzales … Continue reading →

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Libertarians will remain on the ballot

Posted on August 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Too bad, Republicans. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Republican effort to remove a host of Libertarian candidates from the November ballot, saying the GOP did not bring their challenge soon enough. In a unanimous opinion, the all-GOP … Continue reading →

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Cheney versus Cruz

Posted on August 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Pop your popcorn, this should be fun. U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the GOP’s highest-profile critics of former President Donald Trump, plans to set her sights on U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republicans who she says “made themselves … Continue reading →

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Paxton’s State Bar disciplinary hearing

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We are slowly moving towards finally having some kind of result in this saga. Lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued Wednesday that a Kaufman County judge should toss a lawsuit alleging he acted unethically in a legal challenge … Continue reading →

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Let’s name a few legislative battlegrounds

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s getting to be that time of the election cycle. Two years ago, Democrats were gearing up for a rare opportunity in modern times: capturing the Texas House majority. But after they came up woefully short — and Republican-led redistricting … Continue reading →

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Hopefully the last time she will appear before a judge

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

For her sake, I hope it is. Years of legal trouble for a former Harris County civil judge have come to an end with three years probation. Alexandra Smoots on Wednesday wept as Judge Chuck Silverman granted her deferred adjudication … Continue reading →

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All of Gillespie County’s elections staff resigns

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Who could blame them? Citing threats and even stalking, all three employees at the Gillespie County elections office have resigned from their positions, leaving the office empty with less than three months before the primary election in November. The Fredericksburg … Continue reading →

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GOP seeks to knock Libertarians off the ballot

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They tried this in 2020 with no success, but might be better positioned this year. Texas Republicans have filed a petition to knock 23 Libertarian candidates off the November ballot for not paying their filing fees. On August 8, 23 … Continue reading →

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Election officials and workers need our help

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve identified the problem. That’s good. Now let’s do something to fix it. Misinformation about elections has led to violent threats against election workers in Texas and other states — including one who was told “we should end your bloodline” … Continue reading →

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Most of the lawsuit against the voter suppression law survives a motion to dismiss

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news. In a limited order this week, a federal judge threw out some civil rights and discrimination claims brought as part of a complex and ongoing legal dispute over strict new voting rules in Texas. The lawsuit filed last year alleges that the … Continue reading →

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Who audits the auditors?

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A novel idea. Not sure it will get anywhere, but it does send a message. Harris County Commissioners Court, by a 3-2 partisan vote, agreed to explore legal options, including a possible lawsuit, to challenge the results of a random … Continue reading →

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