Texas Supreme Court lets state law eliminating Harris County elections chief stand, for now
The ruling means the November elections in the state’s largest county will be overseen by two other county officials. Legislators targeted Harris County’s elections department after taking issue with the way the 2022 elections were run.
The fringe ideology of “constitutional sheriffs” is attracting believers within Texas law enforcement
Some 50 Texas sheriffs and numerous elected officials have attended trainings on the unsupported notion that sheriffs can single-handedly overrule state and federal law. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which offered state peace officers credit for the seminars, is now investigating.
Texas avoided election violence. Advocates say voters still need more protection.
Citing thousands of complaints received throughout the midterm cycle, voter advocacy groups want the Texas Legislature to bolster voter protection and education measures, and revisit recently passed laws that empowered partisan poll watchers.
Texas voter turnout fell from 2018. It was still higher than other midterms.
In Texas, 45.7% of the 17.7 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2022 midterm election. That’s 7.3 percentage points lower than the state’s total turnout in 2018 but higher than in every other midterm election in the last 20 years.
Was Donald Trump the biggest loser on election night? 3 takeaways from red wave that wasn’t
Results are still being finalized in key congressional and state legislature races across the country, but one thing that became clear overnight is that the 2022 midterm elections were not the red wave of Republican wins many pundits forecasted.
Federal judge tells Beaumont election officials not to harass or discriminate against Black voters
Claims of misconduct during early voting were raised in a federal lawsuit filed Monday by the Beaumont chapter of the NAACP, accusing election workers of scrutinizing Black voters’ identities and shadowing them while at voting stations
Voter fraud charges dismissed against Hervis Rogers, Houston man who waited hours to vote in 2020
Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued charges against Rogers, who was on parole when he voted in the 2020 primary election. But a judge tossed the case after a higher court said Paxton can’t unilaterally prosecute election crimes.
Appeals court allows Texas to withhold list of people it thinks are noncitizens and can’t vote
The appellate court reversed a previous ruling that found that Texas violated federal law by refusing to release the list. The suit was brought by five civil rights groups that sought to hold Texas accountable if it disenfranchised naturalized citizens.
Reports: Volunteers, retirees, national groups targeting election offices
Based on her reporting for Votebeat, a national nonpartisan nonprofit news organization, its Texas reporter Natalia Contreras said volunteers and retirees, many part of national networks spreading misinformation, have been targeting election administrators and their staffs in Texas since the 2020 election.
Partisan spats over vote counting mean Harris County’s election results will likely be late again
Waiting for final results from Houston and Harris County has become an unwelcome Texas political ritual. The county’s sheer size is part of the problem, but so is party squabbling over counting procedures.
A GOP power grab shatters 30 years of political progress for Black voters in Galveston County
Republicans dismantled the only Galveston County commissioners precinct in which voters of color held political clout. It’s a major blow for Black and Hispanic voters who had been building political momentum.
Voting 101: What you need to know about casting a ballot in Texas
Exercising your right to vote can be confusing or intimidating, regardless if you’re a first-time voter or a veteran. KPRC 2 News and KSAT, our San Antonio sister-station, worked to create a comprehensive resource to make sure every eligible Texan can vote and is counted.
Crystal Mason’s contentious illegal voting conviction must be reconsidered, criminal appeals court says
Mason said she didn’t know she was ineligible to vote when she cast a provisional ballot in 2016, but she was sentenced to five years in prison. Now, the Court of Criminal Appeals says an appellate court that affirmed her conviction must look again at the evidence of Mason’s intent.
Analysis: Gerrymandering has left Texas voters with few options
Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November.
More than 12% of mail-in ballots were rejected in Texas under new GOP voting rules, final tally shows
Figures released by the Texas secretary of state show that more than 24,000 Texas voters had their ballots rejected in the March primary. The rejection rate is a significant increase over previous elections.
“Unwinnable race”: State Sen. Beverly Powell of Burleson ends reelection bid, citing redrawn political map
Powell, a Democrat, had won Senate District 10 by winning over a coalition of diverse voters in Tarrant County. The GOP redrew the district to branch out to counties to the south and west that made it more rural and more white.
Texas is quietly using redistricting lawsuits to launch a broader war against federal voting rights law
As Texas defends against accusations that its new political maps are discriminatory, it’s laying the groundwork to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out longstanding Voting Rights Act protections.
Federal judge says Waller County voting process did not discriminate against Black college students
A group of students at Prairie View A&M University sued the county, claiming it set up an election schedule in 2018 that offered students — most of them Black — fewer opportunities to vote early than the county’s white residents.
Texas far-right conservatives spent millions to oust House GOP leaders, to little avail
In the Texas House, the biggest intraparty attack on Republican leadership came from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, led by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. Backed by hard-right donors like Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, West Texas oil tycoons, the group spent at least $5.2 million from January onward.
Partisan tactic by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s campaign delays thousands of requests for mail-in ballots from Texas voters
Patrick’s mass mailing urging voters to apply for mail-in ballots included return envelopes addressed to the Texas secretary of state’s office. The applications are supposed to be sent to local offices, but Patrick’s campaign says voters don’t trust election officials in Democratic counties.
Analysis: State leaders ask Texans to trust the grid, doubt elections
As winter weather moved in this week, the state’s elected leaders worked to regain Texans’ confidence in the electric grid that failed last year. A few days earlier, some of those same leaders were undermining confidence in something else they oversee: elections.
Vote-by-mail rejections are testing integrity of Texas Republicans’ voting law
With less than a month left to vote by mail in the March primary election, hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots are being rejected as both Texas voters and local election officials decipher new ID requirements enacted by Republican lawmakers.
Analysis: Texas government is business-friendly, but not businesslike
Business people running elections might try to remove obstacles to make everything smooth and secure for voters. But a kink in the supply chain for voter registration forms in Texas highlights a venerable distinction: Government doesn't run like a business.
Analysis: A Texas election in the shade of government’s third branch
Challenges to new Texas laws on voting, political districts and abortion are all pending in court, as is the state’s challenge to federal vaccine mandates. But until the courts rule, those laws remain in place — and they provide political fodder for the incumbents who support them.
First part of Texas’ 2020 election audit reveals few issues, echoes findings from review processes already in place
An initial review of four counties’ election results — launched after pressure from former President Donald Trump and touted by GOP leaders — showed few discrepancies between electronic and hand counts of ballots in a sample of voting precincts.
Texas’ renewed voter citizenship review is still flagging citizens as “possible non-U.S. citizens”
The secretary of state’s office says it is following the legal settlement agreement it entered in 2019 after botching its first review effort. But scores of citizens are still being marked for citizenship verification — and possible removal from the rolls.
Opportunity was snatched away from Dallas County Latino communities when Texas Republicans redrew congressional maps
Dallas-area Latinos hoped their growing numbers would finally translate into political clout this year through the creation of a new congressional district anchored by their communities. Instead, their neighborhoods were splintered between numerous white-majority districts.
Analysis: Texas Republican lawmakers pleased most of their own voters, most of the time
They didn't make a majority of Texas voters happy on a single issue, but the Republican majority in the Legislature made most of their own voters happy — and then drew maps that minimize political threats to them in the November general election.
Analysis: Early signs point to another Republican-dominated election cycle in Texas
Republican incumbents enter their reelection campaigns well ahead of their Republican challengers and with most voters unacquainted with the Democratic challengers in the field, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Justice Department sues Texas over new voting law, targeting restrictions on mail-in ballots and voter assistance
The elderly, voters with disabilities and voters with limited English proficiency risk disenfranchisement under sweeping legislation Texas Republicans pushed through earlier this year, the justice department argues in its legal challenge to Senate Bill 1.
Texans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz join GOP senators to block voting rights bill that would have protected voters of color
In a final push to secure federal voting rights legislation this year, congressional Democrats failed to secure the necessary votes to avoid a GOP filibuster on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.