‌Republicans Make It Harder To Vote In Texas

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Texas Republicans voted near midnight to prohibit overnight voting. We’ll look at that and other changes that are incoming for Texas voters now that — after a summer-long battle — both legislative chambers in the state have passed a package of new restrictions.

 

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Alright, let’s dig in.

After A Fight, Republicans Have Made It Harder To Vote In Texas

Republicans in the Texas House have passed SB 1, the package of voting restrictions that Democrats briefly fled the state in order to stave off. The legislative body will now reconcile its bill’s differences with the Senate bill, and then the new restrictions will go to Gov. Greg Abbot (R).

 

Among the changes headed for Texas voters: No more late-night or drive-through voting. (Perhaps ironically, observers noted, an initial vote on the bill was taken at 11:18 p.m. local time.) The bill would also empower partisan poll watchers, add ID requirements to mail-in voting and prohibit elected officials proactively distributing mail-in ballot applications, among other things.

 

Referring to criticism that the restrictions would inordinately impact people of color in Texas, House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) made a modest proposal at the beginning of debate: “The chair would appreciate members not using the word ‘racism’ this afternoon.” The Texas Tribune noted one Democratic response.

 

“I know people bristle at certain terms that are used, so I’ll just say [the Legislature has] been intentionally discriminatory,” Rep. Rafael Anchía (D) of Dallas stated at one point.

 

Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin asked in response: “Intentional discrimination against people of a certain race — is that racism?”

County Clerk Tied To Election Machine Leak Goes To Ground

Things get stranger and stranger in Mesa County, COLORADO, where the elected official who would typically oversee elections, Tina Peters, is now apparently in hiding with the help of pillow magnate Mike Lindell, after the secretary of state accused her of having a hand in leaking information about the county’s election software. It’s not clear if law enforcement has sought to interview her in the matter, nor whether she is cooperating with an ongoing probe that includes the FBI and the local DA’s office.

 

The video of a software update process in Mesa County, which involved both county and state employees and Dominion officials, was first circulated online by the infamous QAnon grifter Ron Watkins, who some believe authored part or all of “Q”’s collected works. Then, digital images of election machines themselves were shared with the attendees of Lindell’s “cyber symposium” earlier this month.

 

I spoke with Watkins’ attorney, who said his client had not told him the details of how he obtained the video of the software update. However, Watkins’ attorney said, “whoever gave the information to Ron pointed to Tina Peters as the ultimate source of the information.” 

Around The States

Over the weekend, on the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, thousands of people marched for voting rights in WASHINGTON, D.C. (where “statehood” was another rallying cry) and several other cities around the country.

 

CALIFORNIA’s recall procedure is constitutional, a federal judge in Los Angeles said. The legal challenge had raised questions about the legitimacy of the process: Because incumbent governors can’t run as a replacement candidate in the event that a recall is approved by voters, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) could be replaced by someone who receives far fewer votes than he does.

 

The TEXAS Senate has passed a bill allowing a later primary date in 2022, to account for the COVID-related redistricting delay.

 

PENNSYLVANIA’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted to end prison gerrymandering, or the practice of counting imprisoned people for apportionment purposes where they are incarcerated, rather than at their last address. In Virginia, a lawmaker is suing to restore apportionment to the prison addresses. 

The Latest In Audit Mania

We’re still in a holding pattern in ARIZONA, where the results of a months-long sham “audit” were delayed last week, the Senate president announced, because of several purportedly severe cases of COVID-19 among the auditors. Maricopa County, the singular subject of the audit, faces a new legal threat from the state’s attorney general stemming from the audit.

 

A federal judge in Detroit has formally sanctioned Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and several others for their legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in MICHIGAN — the lawyers alleged violations in state law “without bothering to figure out if Michigan law actually prohibited the acts described,” U.S. District Judge Linda Parker, of the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote.

 

PENNSYLVANIA State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) appears close to getting his desired audit of the commonwealth’s 2020 election results — but he’s out of the driver’s seat. State Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R), who previously resisted the idea of “relitigating” the election, now says he’s for a “full forensic investigation” led by a different Trumpy state senator, Chris Dush (R).

 

Corman, of course, has been in touch with Trump and is now parroting all of the same “just-asking-questions” language about the majority of Pennsylvanians’ votes as many in his party. Dush similarly has said he knows Trump’s watching him.

 

The same Republican weathervane-ism is on display in WISCONSIN as well, where Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has thrown his weight behind the ever-undefined “cyber-forensic audit” idea. Reince Priebus told Steve Bannon that state Republicans were prepared to spend $680,000 on the cause. 

AP: “Latino city in Arizona grew, but census says it shrank”

 

WaPo: “The redistricting mess begins, and the GOP still has the advantage”

 

NPR: “Reporters From Across The U.S. Talk About The Political Fight Over Voting Rights”

 

NYT: “He Was the ‘Perfect Villain’ for Voting Conspiracists” 

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