Tag Archives: absentee ballots

Bexar County looks for ways to reduce future mail ballot rejections

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck. I hope if they learn anything useful they share it with the rest of us. Bexar County Commissioners on Tuesday directed local officials to come up with a plan to reduce the number of rejected mail-in ballots in … 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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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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It’s officially Garza and Jaworski in the AG runoff

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Glad that’s settled. Civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Texas attorney general on Thursday, clearing the way for top vote-getter Rochelle Garza to face Joe Jaworski in a May runoff election. More than … Continue reading →

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

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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Longoria to resign as Election Administrator

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Ultimately for the best. Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria submitted her resignation Tuesday, about an hour and half after Judge Lina Hidalgo announced she intended to replace her following last week’s bungled primary contests. Longoria said her resignation would … Continue reading →

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There were mail ballots not included in the count on Election Day

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Oof, this is bad. Harris County Election Administrator Isabel Longoria’s office on Saturday announced that they have identified approximately 10,000 mail-in ballots that were not added to the original count on Election Night. The county said that approximately 6,000 of … Continue reading →

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Yeah, the mail ballot thing was a huge mess

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We still don’t know how huge. Election day has come and gone, but it remains unclear how many Texans were unable to vote after trying to cast ballots by mail under new Republican laws restricting that voting option. In the … Continue reading →

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Maybe suing to stop the vote count isn’t the best way to get the vote counted

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Just a thought. The Harris County Elections Division released the final, unofficial primary elections results early Thursday, following a GOP petition to impound the records which stopped vote counts hours earlier. Citing malfunctions and a lack of testing of election … Continue reading →

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Initial post-election wrapup

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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A roundup of runoffs

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I was going to just do a basic recap of all the primary races that will require runoffs, and then this happened, and I had to do some redesign. U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, has decided to end his reelection … 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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2022 primary early voting statewide

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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

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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Of course the Fifth Circuit put a hold on the SB1 injunction

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

There is nothing more reliable in this world than the Fifth Circuit giving Republicans everything they ask for. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a temporary hold on a preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of a … 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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Early voting for the 2022 primaries starts today

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Dear Voters, Below please find the link to the March 1 Primary Digital Toolkit. This Toolkit is a resource you can use to prepare for the upcoming Primary Election. Early Voting in Harris County begins, Monday, February … Continue reading →

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Injunction granted in lawsuit over criminal penalties for election officials who encourage voting by mail

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a somewhat complicated headline for this. A new Texas law that keeps local election officials from encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots likely violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled late Friday. Following a testy three-hour hearing earlier … Continue reading →

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Yes, most people will generally support the idea of decent election reforms

Posted on February 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

But that doesn’t mean they’ll vote for politicians who support them, and that right there makes all the difference. From the UH Hobby School, here’s part four of their January 2022 public opinion fest, which began with their election poll. … 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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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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No one should have to put up with this level of crappy service

Posted on February 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the plan. Make people give up and walk away. [Pam] Gaskin and her husband, Michael, were denied ballots twice this month over procedural mishaps — and if she were any less determined to vote, it may have stayed that … Continue reading →

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This is what voter suppression looks like

Posted on January 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. A Harris County man fears new voting laws may prevent him from voting by absentee ballot for the first time in his lifetime. Kenneth Thompson, 95, has been checking his mail daily … 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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Huffman wins District G election

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

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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