Tag Archives: straight ticket voting

Judicial undervotes 2024

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

One brief comment on this Houston Landing story about undervoting, and then I will have some numbers for you. Tens of thousands of Harris County residents stopped voting well short of the end of their Nov. 5 ballots, skipping dozens … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

What will it take to keep those ten appellate court benches we won in 2018?

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

As you may recall, Democrats won a ton of Appellate Court races in 2018. Ten of them, in fact, five each on the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals, the first such victories since winning a lone bench in 2008. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: The different kinds of courts

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY Beto versus Abbott Beto versus the spread Hidalgo versus Mealer Better statewide races Not as good statewide races County executive offices Houston/not Houston I’ve spent a lot of time and space on this blog talking about judicial races and … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: County executive offices

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY Beto versus Abbott Beto versus the spread Hidalgo versus Mealer Better statewide races Not as good statewide races County races appear towards the bottom of the ballot, after all of the federal and state races. With the exception of … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

State and county election result relationships, part 3: Other county races

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Part One Part Two Last time we looked at judicial races, which for all of the complaints about not knowing the candidates and just going by partisan labels have produced a consistent range of outcomes over the years. Some people … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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 →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: Fort Bend County, part 1

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Appellate courts, Part 2 Judicial averages Other cities District Attorney County Attorney Sheriff Tax Assessor County Clerk HCDE I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Precinct analysis: Fort Bend County, part 1

Precinct analysis: The judicial averages

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Appellate courts, Part 2 As you know, I use the average totals and percentages from local judicial races as … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Precinct analysis: Appellate courts, part 2

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Here’s the more traditional look at the Court of Appeals races. Unlike the Supreme Court and CCA, all of … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Precinct analysis: Appellate courts, part 2

Please stop with the straight ticket voting anecdotes

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Either bring me some real data or leave these just so stories alone. Judging from Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Dallas County, Morgan Meyer and Angie Chen Button should have been doomed this November. Meyer and Button are the only two … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Initial thoughts about the election

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

And now for some reactions and analysis… – The polls were garbage. Oy vey. Not just here, though they were definitely off here, underestimating Trump and the Republicans after doing the same to Beto and the Dems in 2018. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Omnibus Election Day post

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I was up really late last night, and there’s still a lot of votes to be counted. The SOS website was mostly trash, but a lot of county election sites took their sweet, sweet time even reporting any Election Day … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

A focus on the SCOTX races

Posted on November 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

With so much litigation over a variety of voting issues, the Supreme Court of Texas is in the news a lot these days. Will that mean more attention being paid to the four races for SCOTX positions? The sleepy contests … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bloomberg drops some money in the RRC race

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has made a late donation of $2.6 million to the Democratic nominee for railroad commissioner, Chrysta Castañeda, providing a massive fundraising boost in a race for the oil and … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

November 2020 Early Voting Day Five: How not to look at the early voting totals

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Twitter on Friday: . Biden needs a rout in Harris County (#Houston) to have any chance of winning TX. We’ve had 3 days of record-shattering turnout and by tonight may have 500k votes. But so far, Biden probably isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How many undervotes would it take?

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This story about the race for County Clerk has broken me. [Stan] Stanart has finished in line with the Republican straight-ticket vote in each of his three elections, winning the clerk seat in 2010 with 53 percent of the vote … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lawsuit filed over Abbott’s order to limit mail ballot dropoff locations

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As expected. Voting rights advocates and civic groups have rushed to the courthouse in a bid to block Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s Oct. 1 order allowing Texas counties no more than one drop-off location for voters casting absentee ballots, calling … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

And straight ticket voting is off again

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise, but boy are we all getting whiplash over here. Texas voters will not be able to select every candidate of a major political party with one punch, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, upholding a 2017 state law … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Of course the Fifth Circuit paused the straight ticket voting ruling

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Water is wet, the sky is blue, the Fifth Circuit gives Ken Paxton whatever he asks. A federal appeals court on Monday put a temporary hold on a lower court’s ruling last week that reinstated the practice of straight-ticket voting, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Paxton appeals stright ticket voting ruling

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Letting no moss grow. The Texas Attorney General’s office filed an appeal and motion to stay Saturday following a federal judge’s order to reinstate straight ticket voting ahead of the November general election. Lawyers representing the Texas Secretary of State … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Paxton appeals stright ticket voting ruling

Straight ticket voting reinstated (for now)

Posted on September 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That was unexpected. Less than three weeks before early voting begins in Texas, a U.S. district judge has blocked the state from eliminating straight-ticket voting as an option for people who go to the polls this November. In a ruling … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Let’s not overstate the no-straight-ticket effect

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

With all due respect, this is some ado about not very much. With straight-ticket voting no longer an option in 2020, the Harris County Clerk estimates the average resident will spend a significantly longer time in the voting booth this … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Don’t expect any surprises in the judicial races

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a simple reason why the Democratic candidates and incumbents are expected to win all the judicial races in Harris County, as they did in 2016 and 2018. I’ll tell you why in a minute, but see if you can … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Politico profile of Lina Hidalgo

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good stuff. In late April, Lina Hidalgo stood at a microphone in the Harris County emergency operations center in Houston and pushed up the teal fabric face mask that had slipped off her nose. Her voice was slightly muffled as … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Straight ticket voting lawsuit tossed

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not a big surprise. A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Democrats’ effort to reinstate the straight-ticket voting option in Texas. Siding with the state, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo found that Democrats lacked standing to challenge Texas Republicans’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lawsuit filed over straight ticket voting ban

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of litigation lately. In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Laredo, the Texas Democratic Party — joined by the chair of the Webb County Democratic Party and the Democratic campaign arms of the U.S. Senate and House — claims … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A look at the other SBOE races of interest

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There are three races in the State Board of Education that Democrats have a shot to flip based on recent election results. We are pretty familiar with SBOE6, so let’s take a look at districts 5 and 10. The Statesman … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

That’s a weird definition of “thriving”

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Surrounded by fellow Libertarians during a 2018 election night watch party at a rented Airbnb in Fort Worth, Eric Espinoza, who was running for state Rep. Jonathan Stickland’s seat, saw a Facebook … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Texas GOP accidentally releases its 2020 strategy

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. In a bizarre political blunder, a document laying out the Republican Party of Texas’s election strategy for the 2020 elections has ended up in the hands of Texas Democrats. Attacking Democratic candidates through websites and mitigating “the polarizing nature” … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Harris County GOP thinks it can come back in 2020

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

They’re so adorable. Once a rock of Republican politics in Texas, Harris County has become nothing short of a nightmare for the GOP over the last four years as Hillary Clinton and Beto O’Rourke carried the county and Democrats dominated … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

We talk once again about straight ticket voting

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We have a new study, so we have a new reason. The state’s decision to kill straight-ticket voting could cut turnout in down-ballot races in the 2020 elections — even if more voters show up to the polls. Sure, those … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018, Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on We talk once again about straight ticket voting

TCRP report on Texas election administration problems

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today the Texas Civil Rights Project (“TCRP”) released a report—utilizing data from the largest non-partisan Election Protection effort in the state, provisional ballot data, as well as publicly available information—to analyze the the long-standing failures in Texas … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Time again to talk judicial elections

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again, like it or not. In the wake of a midterm election that swept some 20 Republican appellate judges out of office, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht called on the Texas Legislature to reform a … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Precinct analysis: The county candidates

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s just dive right in and have a look at the countywide candidates, shall we? Dist Emmett Hidalgo Gatlin Under Emmett% Hidalgo% Gatlin% ============================================================== CD02 150,630 103,625 5,842 5,005 57.91% 39.84% 2.25% CD07 135,016 100,412 4,967 4,819 56.16% 41.77% 2.07% … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Precinct analysis: The county candidates