Tag Archives: Tarrant County

Counting the number of same sex marriages in Texas

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Fewer than I’d have guessed, but still a decent amount percentage-wise. Statewide, an estimated 2,500 same-sex couples have received marriage licenses in Texas since the [Obergfell] ruling. There is no exact accounting of how many same-sex marriage licenses have been … Continue reading →

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Divorce granted to same sex couple in Tarrant County

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

At some point, stories like this will cease to be news. It took two Tarrant County women nearly two years to legally end their failed marriage because of the tangle of state and federal law. But on Thursday, Brooke Powell … Continue reading →

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More counties issuing same sex marriage licenses

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Montgomery County: Montgomery County Clerk Mark Turnbull said he turned one same-sex couple away on Friday who requested a marriage license, but wound up issuing the license after regular hours on Saturday. He initially refused because he was waiting for … Continue reading →

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On BGTX, Wendy Davis, and the future

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This has been a pretty busy Christmas break, as far as blog-worthy news has gone, so in order to preserve the small illusion that I’m taking a breather and recharging my batteries, I’m just going to give three quick thoughts … Continue reading →

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What will the clerks do?

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Some of Texas’ county clerks are making plans to accommodate same-sex marriage license applicants in the event that federal judge Orlando Garcia lifts the stay on his ruling that tossed out the state’s ban on same-sex nuptials. Some other clerks … Continue reading →

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A look at how Democratic legislative challengers did against the spread

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s been long enough since the election that I feel like I can go back and look at some numbers. Not a whole lot of good out there, but we’ll try to learn what we can. To start off, here … Continue reading →

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The Battleground effect in legislative races

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So here’s a crazy idea. Rather than judge Battleground Texas by our own beliefs about how things should have gone, what say we take a look at the actual numbers of a few races and see what they tell us? … Continue reading →

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Two in Tarrant to watch

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Tarrant County isn’t often an electoral battleground, but this time it is, at least in two legislative races. [HD94 Republican nominee Tony] Tinderholt’s race is one of two legislative contests in Tarrant County where Democrats are pinning their hopes on … Continue reading →

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2014 Day 11 Early Vote totals

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

But first, a little Republican angst. The Republican Party of Bexar County has issued a series of desperate pleas to conservative voters, saying “the Democrats are beating us on base turnout,” but two of the Texas party’s biggest names converged … Continue reading →

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2014 Day Three EV totals

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

But first, a little angst. I feel a bit uncomfortable after Day Two of Early Voting in Person. Here are a couple of concerning tweets from yesterday: Scott Braddock ‏@scottbraddock 2h2 hours ago Those Harris County early vote totals are … Continue reading →

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2014 Day Two EV totals

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Houston Politics with the nickel summary. The number of voters showing up at Harris County’s 41 early-vote locations was down by 25 percent for the second straight day on Tuesday, according to tallies released by the County Clerk. A … Continue reading →

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Voter registration numbers are up

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news here. The number of Texans registered to vote in the state’s five largest counties increased by 2 percent since 2012, a reversal of the decline in total voter registrations that was seen before the last midterm election. … Continue reading →

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Equality is about more than marriage

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about families, and lots of other things, too. Joe Riggs and Jason Hanna never expected to make national news after a surrogate mom gave birth to their twins. Riggs, 33, and Hanna, 37, have been together almost four years. … Continue reading →

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Burnam challenge awaiting appeal

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Another update on the ongoing legal challenge by State Rep. Lon Burnam, who wants his loss in the primary to Ramon Romero thrown out on the grounds that some applications for absentee ballots by Romero voters involved the use of … Continue reading →

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What the Burnam case is about

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m still not sure what to think about Rep. Lon Burnam’s electoral challenge against Ramon Romero in HD90. In a case that election officials statewide are monitoring — because it involves the use of electronic devices such as iPads — … Continue reading →

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Burnam election challenge update

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Moving along, but no timeline as yet. A state district judge from Denton County will oversee a case involving long-time state Rep. Lon Burnam‘s accusations that votes were cast illegally in the Democratic Party primary last month. State District Judge … Continue reading →

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Burnam files challenge in HD90

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. State Rep. Lon Burnam filed a lawsuit Monday challenging his 111-vote re-election loss earlier this month. Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said the goal of the lawsuit is to review data from the Texas House District 90 … Continue reading →

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Comparing Davis and White

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

In 2010, Bill White received 517,487 votes in the Democratic primary, for 76.0% of the vote. Wendy Davis just received 432,065 votes, for 79.1% of the total but 85,422 fewer votes than White. As is always the case, the change … Continue reading →

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Early voting, one (six day) week in

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

We have one week completed for early voting, though it was only a six day week thanks to the Presidents Day holiday. Here are the daily totals from the County Clerk. Republicans continue to be the majority of early voters … Continue reading →

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A closer look at the turnout issue in 2014

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I wrote yesterday about turnout for this year’s election. The main problem that Democrats face this year is that turnout has basically been flat for them since 2002 in the off year elections. I began to write a post to … Continue reading →

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What’s at stake in the Democratic primaries

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had my fun poking holes in Mark Jones’ ridiculous argument that we should all just vote in the Republican primary, but now it’s time to talk about the Democratic primary and why these races matter. US Senate On Monday … Continue reading →

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Fort Worth and Tarrant County

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Between Wendy Davis’ campaign for Governor, and the campaign to succeed Wendy Davis in SD10, there’s going to be a lot of attention focused on Forth Worth in the next twelve months. The two scenes capture the split political personality … Continue reading →

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CSAPR stayed

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

There was some bad news at the end of the year. A federal court ordered [last] Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency’s controversial cross-state air pollution rule be stayed — to the delight of Texas officials and the chagrin of … Continue reading →

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Sen. Chris Harris and Rep. Will Hartnett to retire

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

One more out the door of the upper chamber. State Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, announced [Monday] afternoon that he will not seek reelection — the fourth veteran lawmaker to announce their retirement from the Upper Chamber. He is the longest … Continue reading →

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Davis files anoter redistricting lawsuit

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

After the Justice Department declined to object to the new State Senate map under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Sen. Wendy Davis filed a lawsuit in the federal court in San Antonio challenging it on other grounds. State … Continue reading →

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The districts in dispute

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The redistricting lawsuit in San Antonio wrapped up on Friday, so at this point all we can do is wait for the three-judge panel to issue its opinion, and for the DC Circuit Court to have it say on preclearance. … Continue reading →

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What if we didn’t have to worry about county lines?

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The federal lawsuit that will be heard by a three-judge panel in San Antonio begins next week, but in the meantime there have been depositions taken by various players, and some interesting things have come up in them. Texas Redistricting … Continue reading →

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More angst over May elections

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Star Telegram adds to the litany of woe surrounding the upcoming changes to the state’s elections calendar. Over three months, some voters would face a primary, followed by city and school elections, followed by primary runoffs, followed by city … Continue reading →

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Primary news: HD90, HD113, HCDE

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Lon Burnam has an opponent in March. Fort Worth School Board trustee Carlos Vasquez has announced he will challenge state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, in next year’s Democratic primary. Vasquez, a former elementary school principal, has been … Continue reading →

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Veasey’s Congressional plan

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We didn’t get a Congressional map from the Senate Redistricting Committee, though we may now get one in a special session but that didn’t stop State Rep. Marc Veasey from drawing his own before sine die. In Veasey’s map, thirteen … Continue reading →

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Senate map is out, controversy precedes it

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Before we had a State Senate map, we had a brawl brewing over one proposed district on it. Accusing the state Senate’s Republican leaders of a “shameful partisan attack,” Sen. Wendy Davis said Tuesday that a new redistricting map for … Continue reading →

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New map, new opportunities: The Metroplex

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Dallas and Tarrant Counties will each have eight districts drawn to elect Republicans in them. For this entry, I’m going to look at each of these districts. First up is Tarrant County, which gains a district (HD101) for a total … Continue reading →

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Let’s not look for excuses

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, MALDEF released a Congressional redistricting plan for Texas that was aimed at drawing two new Latino Congressional seats. Paul Burka has a complaint about one of the districts they drew. The other district in Plan 108C is the … Continue reading →

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Census stories: Dallas and its neighbors

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The city of Dallas isn’t growing. Despite a surging state population and double-digit growth rates in Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio, the city of Dallas grew by a paltry 1 percent in the last decade, according to the new … Continue reading →

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