Tag Archives: Secretary of State

Jane Nelson stepping down as Secretary of State

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

She was pretty mid at the job, and yet she was almost certainly the best we could have hoped for as long as Greg Abbott gets to pick. Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Tuesday she will resign effective … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged Donald Trump, DPS, Election 2026, Greg Abbott, Jane Nelson, Justice Department, lawsuit, Secretary of State, Senate, Texas, voter registration, voter suppression | 1 Comment

And another voter purge lawsuit filed

Posted on April 24, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

As I said before, it’s hard to keep track of them all. Voting rights group Common Cause and four voters sued the Justice Department on Tuesday to block it from compiling a national voter database that the watchdog warns allows … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged ACLU, Anthony Nel, Common Cause, CREW, Denton County, Donald Trump, immigration, Jane Nelson, LULAC, Nebraska, Ruth Nasrullah, Secretary of State, Texas, Travis County, USCIS, voter registration, voter suppression | Comments Off

The Loving County takeover saga gets more ridiculous

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I am begging for there to be a multi-part prestige podcast about this when it is all over. A legal cat-and-mouse contest is playing out in far West Texas, where local and state authorities are attempting to stymie a charismatic … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026, Legal matters | Tagged Election 2026, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, Loving County, Malcolm Tanner, Secretary of State, Texas, Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, voter registration | 1 Comment

Another voter purge lawsuit filed

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Hard to keep track of them all. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and other sued Thursday to stop a purge of Texas’ voter rolls that the Latino civil rights group and its allies say is discriminatory toward … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Donald Trump, immigration, Jane Nelson, LULAC, Secretary of State, Texas, Travis County, USCIS, voter registration, voter suppression | Comments Off

When hand counts go wrong

Posted on March 8, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

There are supposed to be consequences for this. But will there be? Calhoun County finished submitting its primary election results to the state Friday morning after county Republicans, who hand counted their primary ballots, missed a deadline in state law … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Calhoun County, Election 2026, hand counting, primaries, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege | 2 Comments

The Eastland County hand-counting situation

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The other one to keep an eye on. Eastland County Republicans voted last fall to ditch electronic voting equipment and instead hand count all of their primary ballots. They’ll be using paper poll books to check in voters, and expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Dallas County, Democratic primary, early voting, Eastland County, Election 2026, electronic voting machines, hand counting, primaries, Republican Party, Robin Hayes, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege, voting centers | 2 Comments

The best-laid plans to hand-count ballots often go awry

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, Gillespie County. You rascals, you. Gillespie County Republicans have scrapped plans to hand count all of their 2026 primary ballots after failing to recruit enough workers — at least for early voting. The lack of manpower prompted party officials … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Allen West, Dallas County, Election 2024, Election 2026, elections administrator, electronic voting machines, Gillespie County, hand counting, primaries, recount, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas | 3 Comments

2026 primary early voting Day Three: With additional miscellany

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll start with the numbers and then go on to the items of interest. Here are the final daily EV reports for the 2022 and 2018 primaries. Here’s the Day Three EV report, and here are the numbers: Year Mail … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged absentee ballots, CD21, CD23, CD35, Congress, Democratic primary, early voting, Election 2018, Election 2020, Election 2022, Election 2026, hand counting, Harris County, John Lira, Johnny Garcia, Katy Padilla Stout, Kristin Hook, primaries, redistricting, Regina Vanburg, Santos Limon, SD09, Secretary of State, special election, Tarrant County, Taylor Rehmet, Texas, turnout | 2 Comments

DNC threatens to sue over surrendered voter files

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see. Democrats warned 10 states Friday that they may have violated federal election law after entering into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to share sensitive voter data. In response, Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Alabama, DNC, Donald Trump, Election 2026, Justice Department, lawsuit, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Secretary of State, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, voter registration, voter suppression | Comments Off

SOS hands over voter roll to Trump DOJ

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Surrender time. Texas officials have turned over the state’s voter roll to the U.S. Justice Department, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, complying with the Trump administration’s demands for access to data on millions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged DNC, Donald Trump, Election 2026, Justice Department, lawsuit, Secretary of State, Texas, voter registration, voter suppression | Comments Off

Dallas and Williamson forced to abandon voting centers for Primary Day

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. In an about-face, Dallas County Republicans last week decided against hand-counting ballots in Texas’ March primary, saying they weren’t able to line up enough workers, among other hurdles. That leaves just two … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Allen West, Dallas County, Democratic primary, early voting, Election 2026, electronic voting machines, hand counting, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege, voting centers, Williamson County | Comments Off

Four fewer contested judicial primaries

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Sometimes the fiercest action occurs outside of public view. Four judicial candidates withdrew from their 2026 election bids after incumbent judges and other Democratic opponents filed lawsuits alleging their candidacy filings contained forged signatures and other irregularities. Allison Mathis, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Allison Jackson Mathis, Angela McKinnon, Anna Eady, Beau Miller, Carlos Aguayo, Democratic primary, Donna Roth, filing fee, Harris County, HCDP, judicial races, lawsuit, petitions, Secretary of State, Stephanie Morales, Texas, Velda Faulkner | Comments Off

Dallas County Republicans abandon hand count plan

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Some unexpected sanity. After months of laying the groundwork to hand-count thousands of ballots in the March 3 primary, the Dallas County Republican Party announced on Tuesday it has decided not to do so, opting instead to contract with the county elections … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Allen West, Dallas County, Democratic primary, Election 2024, Election 2026, electronic voting machines, hand counting, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas | Comments Off

Some resistance to the push for closed primaries

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest: Last week, during a tour driving across parts of rural West Texas, I had a phone call with Nick Troiano, the executive director of Unite America. We talked about the Republican Party of Texas’s lawsuit to close the … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Abraham George, Election 2026, Election 2028, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, polls, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas, voter registration | 2 Comments

The Dallas County GOP’s hand-counting debacle

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be a disaster. Dallas County Republicans say they’re planning to go ahead with hand-counting tens of thousands of Election Day ballots cast in the upcoming March 3 primary after raising more than $400,000 towards the effort. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Allen West, Dallas County, Democratic primary, Election 2024, Election 2026, electronic voting machines, Gillespie County, hand counting, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Tarrant County, Texas | 1 Comment

Deadline Day roundup, part 2

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Part 1 is here. So far I haven’t found much that wasn’t known at deadline time. It’s an odd year for there to be so few true last-minute surprises, but here we are. A few items to note: – There’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged Ag Commissioner, Anthony Box, Attorney General, Benjamin Flores, CD09, CD33, Clayton Tucker, Colin Allred, Comptroller, Congress, Court of Criminal Appeals, Democratic primary, Election 2026, filing deadline, Gordon Goodman, Governor, Harris County, Harris County Judge, Holly Taylor, Jasmine Crockett, Joe Jaworski, Jon Rosenthal, Jose Loya, Julie Johnson, Kristen Hawkins, Land Commissioner, Lite Gov, Maggie Ellis, Matthew Salazar, Michael Lange, Nathan Johnson, Railroad Commission, Sarah Eckhardt, Savant Moore, Secretary of State, Senate, Steve Stockman, Supreme Court, Texas, Texas Justice Democrats, Vikki Goodwin | Comments Off

Of course that DPRIT lawsuit filed by crackpots was done incorrectly

Posted on December 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s more fun this way. If an Austin court hearing this week is an early indication of how a lawsuit blocking Texas’ $3 billion dementia research fund will fare, state leaders who championed it and the voters who overwhelmingly approved it by more … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025, Legal matters | Tagged Attorney General, constitutional amendments, Dan Patrick, DPRIT, Election 2021, Election 2023, Election 2025, electronic voting machines, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, Robert Nichols, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege, Travis County | Comments Off

The SOS still can’t figure out citizenship

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Same song, different verse. County election officials investigating the eligibility of 2,724 Texas voters flagged as potential noncitizens have so far found that hundreds of the voters registered through the state Department of Public Safety, which requires proof of citizenship … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged Celia Israel, Donald Trump, DPS, drivers licenses, Greg Abbott, immigration, Jane Nelson, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege, Travis County, voter registration | Comments Off

Another lawsuit filed against a constitutional amendment election

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Dan Patrick is mad about it. The state’s new $3 billion dementia research fund has been blocked temporarily by a trio of voters who claim voting machines used in this month’s election are faulty. The plaintiffs — Shannon Huggins, Lars … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025, Legal matters | Tagged constitutional amendments, Dan Patrick, DPRIT, Election 2023, Election 2025, electronic voting machines, lawsuit, Secretary of State, Texas, Travis County | Comments Off

SOS responds to “closed primary” lawsuit

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Nicely done. Texas’ top election official is opposing a GOP lawsuit that seeks to close the state’s primaries, arguing in new legal filings that a decision to restrict voting to registered party members should be up to lawmakers, not the … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Abraham George, Dade Phelan, Election 2026, Election 2028, Gary VanDeaver, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas, voter registration | 3 Comments

Paxton sues the guy attempting the Loving County takeover

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday filed a lawsuit against the leader of a group of people that recently moved into a wealthy far West Texas county with the expressed intent to wrest political control from the current office holders. Paxton also … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters, The great state of Texas | Tagged Election 2026, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, Loving County, Malcolm Tanner, Secretary of State, Texas, Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, voter registration | Comments Off

The latest Loving County shenanigans draws a response

Posted on October 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Are we sure this isn’t all just performance art? Local, state and federal officials have called for separate inquiries a week after a Houston Chronicle investigation detailed how a group of people from out-of-state was moving to wrest political control of … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged Brooks Landgraf, Chip Roy, Election 2026, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, Kevin Sparks, Loving County, Malcolm Tanner, Sarah Stogner, Secretary of State, Skeet Jones, Texas, voter registration | Comments Off

Three ridiculous voting and election stories

Posted on October 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“Silly season” doesn’t begin to cover this stuff. Item 1: Paxton sides with Texas GOP, against secretary of state in lawsuit seeking to close primaries Last month, the Republican Party of Texas sued over a state law that allows anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026, Legal matters, Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged Alex Fairly, Allen West, censure, Dallas County, Democratic primary, Dustin Burrows, Election 2024, Election 2026, Gillespie County, hand counting, Jane Nelson, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, Matthew Kacsmaryk, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Supreme Court, Texas, The Lege, voter registration | 4 Comments

Bexar County processing new voter registrations again

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Bexar County is once again processing new voter registrations, after a months-long delay caused a backlog of 52,000 registrations to wait in limbo. Early voting starts Oct. 20 for the Nov. 4 election. Elections Administrator Michele Carew told … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged Bexar County, Election 2025, Jane Nelson, Michele Carew, Peter Sakai, Secretary of State, Texas, Texas Association of County Election Officials, Texas Election Administration Management, Votec, voter registration | 1 Comment

Still more voter registration problems

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Criminy. Darcy Hood mailed her voter registration application to the Tarrant County elections department in July, after she turned 18. Months later, her application still hasn’t been processed. And it’s unclear when it will be. With the Oct. 6 deadline … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged Election 2025, Jane Nelson, Secretary of State, Texas, Texas Association of County Election Officials, Texas Election Administration Management, Votec, voter registration | Comments Off

Bexar County’s voter registration problems

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not great, Bob! Bexar County is sitting on more than 45,000 voter registration forms that haven’t been processed — less than 50 days before voters decide whether to devote public dollars to a downtown arena for the San Antonio Spurs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged Bexar County, Election 2025, Secretary of State, Texas, Texas Election Administration Management, Votec, voter registration | 3 Comments

State GOP sues to force closed primaries

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I have no idea how this might work. The Republican Party of Texas filed a lawsuit against Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Thursday in a bid to restrict participation in the GOP’s primary elections to only voters registered … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Abraham George, Dade Phelan, Gary VanDeaver, Jane Nelson, lawsuit, primaries, Republican Party, Secretary of State, Texas, voter registration | 5 Comments

There’s more than one way to make voting harder

Posted on September 4, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is such a bad idea. After years of using a touchscreen machine to mark their ballots, voters in at least three Texas counties will be asked instead to make their selections directly on the paper ballots, by hand, starting … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged Americans with Disabilities Act, Bastrop County, Cameron County, Collin County, Denton County, Donald Trump, Election 2000, Election 2024, Election 2026, electronic voting machines, Foard County, Limestone County, paper ballots, Secretary of State, Texas, US Election Assistance Commission, voter suppression, Williamson County | 3 Comments

Fifth Circuit upholds voter ID for vote by mail

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Of course they did. A federal appeals court has upheld Texas’ requirement that potential voters must list their identification information in their application for a mail-in ballot. In Texas, voting by mail is only available for certain groups of people, … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged absentee ballots, ACLU, Brennan Center, Disability Rights Texas, Election 2024, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Greg Abbott, Harris County, Ken Paxton, lawsuit, League of Women Voters, OCA Houston, REV UP Texas, SCOTUS, Secretary of State, Texas, The Lege, voter ID, voter suppression, Voting Rights Act | Comments Off

Yeah, we won’t get the CD18 election until November

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the conclusion to draw from this Trib story. Three weeks after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death and just over a month before the state’s next uniform election, Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet called a special election to fill … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged Amanda Edwards, Blake Farenthold, CD18, Christian Menefee, Congress, Election 2024, Election 2025, fundraising, Greg Abbott, Isaiah Martin, Ron Wright, Secretary of State, Sheila Jackson Lee, special election, Sylvester Turner, Texas, The Lege | 6 Comments

Yet another part of the omnibus vote suppression law struck down

Posted on March 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s taken awhile, but I can’t argue with the outcome. A federal judge in San Antonio has ruled that the state of Texas’ ID requirements for mail ballot applications are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez on Thursday found that … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged absentee ballots, ACLU, Americans with Disabilities Act, Brennan Center, Chris Hollins, curbside voting, Disability Rights Texas, Election 2024, elections administrator, FIEL Houston, Greg Abbott, Harris County, HOPE, Isabel Longoria, Jolt Initiative, Ken Paxton, La Unión Del Pueblo Entero, lawsuit, League of Women Voters, MALDEF, Medina County, Mexican American Bar Association of Texas, OCA Houston, REV UP Texas, Secretary of State, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Impact, Texas Organizing Project, The Lege, voter suppression, Voting Rights Act, Workers Defense Action Fund | Comments Off

No observers allowed here

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Tribune: Texas tells U.S. Justice Department that federal election monitors aren’t allowed in polling places. Texas’ top elections official told the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday its election monitors aren’t permitted in the state’s polling places after the … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged Atascosa County, Bexar County, Dallas County, Election 2024, Frio County, Harris County, Hays County, Jane Nelson, Justice Department, Palo Pinto County, SCOTUS, Secretary of State, Texas, Voting Rights Act, Waller County | 4 Comments

Once more, with feeling: There was no fraud in the 2022 election

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron provides a coda to that accursed election and all of the bullshit that followed. When Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced in August that she had found no evidence of election rigging during the 2022 midterm elections, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged Clifford Tatum, District Attorney, DPS, Election 2022, election contest, elections administrator, Greg Abbott, Harris County, Kim Ogg, lawsuit, paper ballots, Secretary of State, Steve McCraw, Texas, Texas Rangers | Comments Off

It’s crawl-out-from-under-a-rock season

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As predictable as the end of Daylight Saving Time around here. Three Houston-area Republicans have filed a lawsuit alleging that “tens of thousands” of people should be purged from the Harris County voter roll amid a national push to cast … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024, Legal matters | Tagged Ann Harris Bennett, Caroline Kane, Christian Menefee, Election 2024, Harris County, Harris County Tax Assessor, immigration, Jane Nelson, Joseph Trahan, lawsuit, Secretary of State, Steven Hotze, Texas, voter registration, voter suppression | 5 Comments

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