Tag Archives: Election 2020

Four candidates file for CD34 special election

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The sprint is on. Two Democrats and two Republicans have filed for the June 14 special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, in a South Texas congressional seat that the GOP wants to flip. The filing deadline was 5 p.m. … Continue reading →

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CD34 special election set for June 14

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Wasting no time. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday called a June 14 special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, in a South Texas seat that Republicans are working to flip. The filing deadline for the special election … Continue reading →

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Filemon officially resigns

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Feh. U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela will formally resign from Congress late Thursday in a move that officially kicks off what’s expected to be a scramble to replace him in a special election. Vela, D-Brownsville, previously announced his intention to step … Continue reading →

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Guess who’s paying for Ken Paxton’s defense against those state bar complaints?

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

You are, of course. What did you expect? Texas taxpayers are on the hook for $45,000 so far in legal defense for Attorney General Ken Paxton as he attempts to ward off multiple complaints to the State Bar over his … Continue reading →

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Of course Ted Cruz supported sedition

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

None of this is surprising. And I’m certain there will be more, that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sen. Ted Cruz was dining near the Capitol on the evening of Dec. 8, 2020, when he received an … Continue reading →

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Rep. Filemon Vela to step down

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Another special election, though this one is already a little chaotic. U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela confirmed Thursday he will resign from Congress in the coming weeks, a decision that comes after he announced last year he would retire from the … Continue reading →

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First “Trump Train” lawsuit to proceed

Posted on March 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Today, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled in favor of plaintiffs in Cervini v. Cisneros, the “Texas Trump Train” lawsuit filed against individuals in a convoy of Trump supporters who conspired to mount … Continue reading →

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Amanda Edwards to run for Mayor

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The field is now at three. Amanda Edwards, a former at-large member of Houston City Council and candidate for U.S. Senate, announced Wednesday she is running for mayor of Houston in 2023. Edwards’ return to politics comes two years after … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: The new Senate map

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Previously: New State House map, New Congressional map, new SBOE map. The good news is that all 31 Senate seats will be on the ballot this year, as it is a post-redistricting year. The bad news is that the only … Continue reading →

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Still more on the mail ballot rejections

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Associated Press moves the ball forward now that the votes have been canvassed. Texas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the nation’s first primary of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules … Continue reading →

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OAN sues AT&T over being dropped from their service

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Worth keeping an eye on. Right-wing cable network One America News is suing Dallas-based AT&T and DirecTV, alleging the companies breached their contract with OAN and conspired with a company currently suing OAN’s owners. AT&T and DirecTV became the target … Continue reading →

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A trifecta of crap from the Fifth Circuit

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s what they do. A federal appeals court has ruled for Texas in three lawsuits challenging the state’s voting laws, including mail-in ballot provisions and the elimination of straight-ticket voting. In a series of 2-1 rulings Wednesday evening, a panel … Continue reading →

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More data about mail ballot rejections

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Keep it coming. Thousands of Texans who attempted to vote by mail in the March primary were disenfranchised in the state’s first election conducted under a new Republican voting law. The state’s largest counties saw a significant spike in the … Continue reading →

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The rejected mail ballots of Bexar County

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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State Bar sues Sidney Powell for professional misconduct

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Busy times at the State Bar of Texas. The State Bar of Texas has filed a disciplinary suit against former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell alleging that she committed professional misconduct when she filed multiple lawsuits seeking to invalidate the … Continue reading →

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State Bar complaint against Paxton to proceed

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Nice, but I’m still not expecting there to be consequences for him. I will be delighted to be wrong about that. A Texas State Bar complaint against Attorney General Ken Paxton is moving forward and will be heard by either … Continue reading →

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Some thoughts on Primary Day

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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Final 2022 primary early voting totals

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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On to the next mail ballot problem

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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Ken Paxton cannot be trusted to prosecute anyone

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Scary story: . From Statesman columnist @bgrumet: “@TXAG Ken Paxton is using the powers of his office to treat a good-faith mishap as a crime, after coming under political pressure from his own base to file charges.” — Austin Statesman … Continue reading →

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Chris Hollins to run for Mayor

Posted on February 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Chris Hollins, the former Harris County elections chief who pushed measures aimed at expanding ballot access during the November 2020 election, announced Monday that he’s running for Houston mayor in 2023. “The challenges that we’re facing as Houstonians are … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of the HD26 primary

Posted on February 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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Three very early primary thoughts

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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Vote No and take the dough

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s as Republican as insurrection and hydroxychloroquine. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, last year left little doubt why she was voting against a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure, calling it nothing more than a “socialist plan full of crushing taxes and … Continue reading →

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Please watch over the fraudit

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good idea. A group of Democratic members of Congress from Texas has sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that it closely monitor the ongoing election audit in four Texas counties. Last September, Texas Republicans began an audit in Harris, Tarrant, … Continue reading →

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Paxton thumbs his nose at open records demand

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Water is wet. The sun rises in the east. Ken Paxton DGAF about government, ethics, accountability or any of that other namby-pamby stuff. Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Travis County district attorney’s determination that Paxton violated open records laws … Continue reading →

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“Unprecedented” meddling in the Census

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They weren’t subtle about it. A newly disclosed memorandum citing “unprecedented” meddling by the Trump administration in the 2020 census and circulated among top Census Bureau officials indicates how strongly they sought to resist efforts by the administration to manipulate … Continue reading →

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