The Texas state legislature is poised to pass a bill allowing the secretary of state to overturn election results in the state’s third most populous county, only a few years after it turned blue.
we better try to get out in front of this before the entire state gets competitive
They say “competitive,” but they mean small-d democratic.
Better get busy rejecting democracy before it grows more powerful than the current office-holders.
I’ve seen this before. Heads, I win. Tails, you lose. The screeching over fraudulent elections is only going to get louder as trends continue on their current course.
The brazen characteristics of Republicans are mind-boggling. The way I see it, Texans can be ruled by a minority or governed by its people.
The federal lawsuit for violating the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses practically writes itself.
The problem is that there are too many people who are not well informed about who they are voting for, and only seem to care that the person with an R behind their name will “stick it to the libs”. This is the mentality of way too many people in this state.
My metaphor is the idea of common citizenry. This site is a perfect example. It is a smorgasbord of diversity with belief in America as a common denominator.
I have seen commentary from individuals from diverse localities from this country and, for the life of me, I have a hard time dredging up enough energy to anoint tribal membership superseding what I see as American individuals.
the authority to order a new election in counties with at least 2.7 million people
Seems like this would violate the equal protection clause of the 14 amendment section 1 VRA, no?
Typo: Harris County is the third-most populous county in the United States. It’s THE most populous county in Texas, more than a million ahead of Dallas and Tarrant.
Roberts nullified Section 5, Alito nullified Section 2, now it’s time for the nitty gritty detail work.
Not really. Ever since the RayGun era Rethugliklans have broadcasted their game plan, but no one believed them. It was too obvious; too devious; too anti-American; too cruel and heavy-handed; too Nazi-esque! But it wasn’t new.
Now that their wettest of dreams have almost come to complete fruition, people are surprised. It’s baffling, to me.
Remember Smedley Butler? If not, look him up.
They’d laugh at him now.
So, all other counties’ election results stand, but the big blue county has to do a new election, and we all know what happens to turnout in special elections and runoffs. And I’ll bet there’s shenanigans with certifcation deadlines (for instance, the electoral college meets about december 10th). Is this a mechanism to determine TX’ presidential result without the 4.7 million residents of blue Harris County?
Oh, you ran out ballots during the just-finished election? Tough noogies, do it again in two weeks, I don’t care that you can’t get enough ballots, there’s only 2.7 million of you. Your voters voted by mail like they did in the past five elections? Suuurrrre, we’ll send them fresh mail-in ballots in time. Also, when does the do-over election take place? (read “secretary of state” for “district court” in the below):
c) The district court may set the election for a date that shortens the regular period for early voting, but the date must make it possible for early voting by personal appearance to begin not later than the 10th day before election day. In the order setting the date for the election, the court shall also set the date for beginning early voting by personal appearance if it is not possible to begin on the regular day.
Also, I love this little bit. The blue county gets the bill for the do-over:
Sec.A249.003.AAEXPENSES OF NEW ELECTION. The expenses of a new election ordered by the secretary of state under this chapter are paid from the same fund and by the same authority that paid the expenses of the previous election.
You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.
h/t Jim (The Waco Kid)
Meanwhile in Kansas…
It’s a shame that the bill numbering didn’t work out differently, because SB 1993 really would be much more appropriately known as SB 1933.
in counties with at least 2.7 million people
I’m very curious what is the rationale and justification for a 2.7 million threshold. I mean, in Florida they’re careful to write rules that apply to all counties, even though the specific rules are designed to fuck the big blue counties (3 day window to do a recount; guess which counties were unable to complete their recounts in time in the last close Florida election).
Just another variation on Ken Blackwell’s rejection of Ohio voter registration forms because they were on the wrong weight of paper.
“We know something is wrong if we lose,” says Every. Rethugliklan. Ever.
@occamscoin Rationale? Pfft.
They don’t need those morons mucking up their shit, they can do that themselves.
The scale and brazenness here is much greater. This is straight up post-election cheating by fiat. Guess everything’s bigger in Texas.