Tag Archives: Secretary of State

First day in court for SOS advisory lawsuits

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

First day for the first lawsuit, one of three filed against that bogus SOS advisory. A federal judge in San Antonio will hear arguments Tuesday in one of three legal challenges to the state’s initiative to purge tens of thousands … Continue reading →

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Here’s one solution to the SOS problem

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Works for me. A San Antonio state rep wants to repeal the law that let Texas Secretary of State David Whitley refer a poorly vetted list of 95,000 people’s names to the attorney general for investigation for voter fraud. Rep. … Continue reading →

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Whitley’s “apology”

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

He can do a lot better than this. He should do a lot better than this if he wants to get confirmed. Facing an uncertain path to confirmation after ordering a deeply flawed voter citizenship review that seemingly focused on … Continue reading →

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Vote centers advance

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The other big story from Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting. Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman’s plan to shift to countywide voting centers inched forward this week when Commissioners Court unanimously agreed to file an application with the secretary of state asking … Continue reading →

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Paxton double-talks on that SOS advisory

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Paxton really can’t be trusted. Not exactly earth-shattering, I know, but always good to remember. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton assured lawmakers on Friday that his office hadn’t launched criminal investigations into nearly 100,000 voters flagged by the secretary … Continue reading →

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Paxton manages to restrain himself from prosecuting anyone on the SOS list – yet

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Mighty decent of you there, Kenny boy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told lawmakers Friday that his office has yet to take action on a deeply flawed list of nearly 100,000 Texas voters flagged last month for citizenship review. Paxton … Continue reading →

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The Whitley hearing

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not a great day at the office for our Secretary of State and his advisory-ing ways. Almost two weeks after calling into question the citizenship status of almost 100,000 registered voters, Texas’ new chief elections officer, David Whitley, defended his … Continue reading →

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SOS Whitley still has to be confirmed by the Senate

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

His committee hearing is today. Secretary of State David Whitley, who sent a flawed data analysis to every elections official in Texas warning that nearly 100,000 non-U.S. citizens may have illegally registered to vote, is due Thursday to meet with … Continue reading →

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The state of the state 2019

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that gets noticed. Gov. Greg Abbott, in his biennial State of the State address Tuesday, stayed on message about schools and taxes, continuing state leaders’ so far unified focus on bread-and-butter policy reforms in … Continue reading →

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Three times a lawsuit

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Hat trick! A group of civil and voting rights organizations is suing the state’s chief election officers and local election officials in five counties, claiming Texas’ voter citizenship review efforts are unconstitutional because they intentionally target naturalized citizens and voters … Continue reading →

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Second lawsuit filed over bogus SOS advisory

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Keep ’em coming. A group of Latino voters is suing top state officials who they allege unlawfully conspired to violate their constitutional rights by singling them out for investigation and removal from the voter rolls because they are foreign-born. Filed … Continue reading →

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SOS advisory lawsuit update

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Add another plaintiff, litigate till done. A naturalized citizen — who immigrated to Texas from the United Kingdom and is a registered voter — is joining a Latino civil rights group in suing top Texas officials after her voter registration … Continue reading →

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SOS walks its advisory back even more

Posted on February 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just rescind the whole damn list and let’s pretend this never happened. A week after it flagged tens of thousands of voters for citizenship checks, the Texas secretary of state’s office is now advising counties on how to check their … Continue reading →

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Eh, what’s a few thousand mis-identified non-citizens among friends?

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

No biggie. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott downplayed concerns Thursday about the voter citizenship review initiated last week by his secretary of state, even though it has since become clear that the state’s list of flagged voters swept up thousands of … Continue reading →

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As the SOS advisory numbers get revised down

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This really can’t be emphasized enough. State officials on Tuesday acknowledged widespread errors in their list of 95,000 Texas voters flagged as potential non-citizens, reinforcing the concerns of advocates who say the state’s effort amounts to illegal voter suppression. In … Continue reading →

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A trio of updates about that bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Most counties reacted skeptically, as well they should. The Texas Tribune reached out to 13 of the 15 counties with the most registered voters on Monday; Galveston was the only one that indicated it would immediately send out letters, even … Continue reading →

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Civil rights groups push back on bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Lawyers with 13 organizations — including the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund — are demanding that the state rescind an advisory sent to … Continue reading →

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It’s “Let’s lie about vote fraud” season again

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib wrote about this in the best possible way, but the shrieking ghouls are out there in force doing what they can to whip up fear. The Texas secretary of state’s office announced Friday it would send local election … Continue reading →

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HD108 recount begins

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I believe this is the last un-conceded race. The recount for an extremely tight Dallas County race between incumbent Republican Morgan Meyer and Democratic challenger Joanna Cattanach will begin Tuesday. “We appreciate all of the notes of support and emails, … Continue reading →

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From the “I may have spoken too soon” department

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

First, Will Hurd was declared the winner in CD23. But there were still a few precincts out, some in deep red Medina County and others in El Paso County. Hurd started the evening with a 6K early vote lead, but … Continue reading →

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Our poor old voting machines

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

They really do need to be retired. A national spotlight fell on Texas’ voting equipment last week after some voters complained that their votes on electronic voting machines had changed. State election officials chalked it up to user error. Critics … Continue reading →

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The eSlate issue

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone please take a deep breath. Some straight-ticket voters have reported that voting machines recorded them selecting the candidate of another party for U.S. Senate, exposing a potential problem with the integrity of the state’s high-profile contest between U.S. Sen. … Continue reading →

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Yeah, we’re still talking about the risk to our elections

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

And when we talk about these things, we talk to Dan Wallach. When we think about those who defend the territorial integrity of our nation and state, we tend to imagine well-equipped members of the U.S. armed forces, or perhaps … Continue reading →

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Final voter registration numbers

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Busy last week. Harris County added more than 11,000 voters to its rolls in the final week before the registration deadline, the last wave in a surge of half a million new Texas voters since the March primaries. Democrats are … Continue reading →

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Today is the last day to register to vote

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Take action as needed. As Texas’ Tuesday voting registration deadline approaches, Nasser and a number of other deputy voter registrars, volunteers allowed to register voters on the spot, were out in force Saturday evening. While many states allow voters to … Continue reading →

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The updated scenarios for a SD06 special election

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s complicated. The resolution to the special election stalemate between state Sen. Sylvia Garcia and Gov. Greg Abbott likely will come after the November general election and could yield a special election after the Legislature convenes in January. The likely … Continue reading →

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Lots more voters registered statewide

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Always good to hear. The Texas voter rolls have grown to 15.6 million people, a new record, Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos confirmed. That is nearly a 400,000-person increase since March and a jump of 1.6 million since the … Continue reading →

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There are reasons why “suspect addresses” may be legit

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Real talk here. Texas law requires voters to register where they live. At the same time, state law requires counties to take voters at their word that their voter registration applications are truthful. Registrars who suspect an address may be … Continue reading →

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County Attorney declares registration challenges invalid

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

That’s one word for it. The Harris County Attorney’s office said Tuesday that the 4,000 voter registrations challenged by a county Republican Party official were invalid, and the voter registrar should not have sent suspension notices to more than 1,700 … Continue reading →

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Vote suspension update

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The situation gets more complicated. Harris County mistakenly placed more than 1,700 voters on its suspension list in response to a local Republican official’s challenge of nearly 4,000 voter registrations, county Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett said Wednesday. The situation … Continue reading →

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If you can’t win, cheat

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is some bullshit. Harris County residents keen to vote in the upcoming midterm elections should be very careful about checking their mail. Recently, some residents of Third Ward received letters informing them of an address change they had not … Continue reading →

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High schools need to do a better job of making voter registration available to students

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As the Texas Civil Rights Project notes, it is the law. In a report published today by the Texas Civil Rights Project, new data from October 2016 to February 2018 shows that just 34 percent of high schools in Texas … Continue reading →

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SD19 runoff date set

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Mark your calendars. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has picked Sept. 18 as the date of the special election runoff to replace convicted former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. Early voting will run Sept. 10-14. The runoff pits Republican Pete … Continue reading →

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From the “Many are called, but few are chosen” department

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here are your non-standard choices for the November election. Independent candidates Candidates unaffiliated with a political party are allowed access to the general election ballot as long as they file the necessary paperwork and gather a certain number of signatures — depending … Continue reading →

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