(Common Dreams) As early voting continues in Texas' primary election, pro-democracy advocates are sounding the alarm over the high rate at which mail-in ballots are being rejected as a result of the GOP's newly enacted voter suppression law.
Election officials in Harris County said they had returned almost 2,500 of the 6,548 mail-in ballots received as of Saturday due to cumbersome new ID rules—a rejection rate of nearly 38% in Texas' most populous county, a Democratic stronghold that includes Houston and more than 2.4 million voters.
Civil rights advocates have pointed to a record number of mail-in ballot rejections during the opening days of early voting in Texas' 2022 primaries as evidence of the effectiveness of the Republican Party's draconian voter suppression law, Senate Bill 1.
"Mail ballots are people's votes," Isabel Longoria, the Harris County elections administrator, told NPR on Tuesday. "So, I am very concerned—not just with the complexity of the process, but how that added complexity is going to increase the number of mail ballots that we have to reject."
Texas already had some of the nation's most restrictive voting rules, but last year the GOP-controlled state Legislature and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott approved sweeping changes—including new ID requirements for mail-in ballots, a ban on drive-thru voting, and limits on counties' ability to expand voting options—that critics warned would make voting even harder. Emerging data shows those worries were warranted.
(Mano) It appears that “suburban women—who propelled Democrats to big wins in the 2018 and 2020 elections—are now breaking ranks ahead of this year’s midterms.”
These matriarchs of the cul-de-sac are pissed off about inflation, school closings, and pandemic policies. And they are glaring at Democrats and shouting, “You’ve seen what I’m capable of. I voted for a lunatic bigot once, and I’ll do it again unless you fix shit right now!”
…So these most crucial of swing voters are flirting with Republicans again. Sure, the GOP has brought us death, corruption, incompetence, economic calamity, overt bigotry, seething misogyny, sociopathic cruelty, and a loathing for democracy that has left the nation on the precipice of civil war. But Democrats want kids to wear masks. So you see how it’s a difficult choice.
…Democrats, in contrast, have promised to “get things done to better the lives of Americans,” but it is “harder to build things than it is to break them, leaving Democrats with an asymmetrical challenge.” This asymmetry is exemplified by the fact that Democrats are floundering to pass ambitious legislation, and looking like fools when they fail, while “Republicans aren’t promising to do anything different should they return to power.”
…As such, we have a situation where right-wing lunatics with an ironclad base just need to persuade a few suburban women that critical race theory is coming to eat their children. And that’s all it takes to defeat the scrambling, ineffectual Democrats.
caltrek: Mind you, I don't think developing an attitude of contempt toward these swing voters is going to help matters any.
(MSN) Judges in Pennsylvania and North Carolina handed down new congressional maps on Wednesday that will affect the layout of 31 congressional seats, finalizing district lines in one state and inching closer to resolution in the other.
In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court adopted a map that made few changes to the current districts but erased one Republican-held seat, while in North Carolina, a panel of judges adopted a map drawn by a special master that would likely split the congressional delegation evenly, a big boost for Democrats, who currently hold five out of 13 seats.
The North Carolina order would make bigger changes to the makeup of the House, but it may not be enacted: Republican lawmakers in North Carolina quickly announced they’d appeal the new maps to the state Supreme Court. If left in place, both maps look set to draw a pair of GOP congressmen into the same district in each state, kicking off expensive primary fights.
Across the country, state high courts have played a massive role in shaping the contours of the House map for the next decade. A landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2019 punted the issue of partisan gerrymandering out of federal judges' hands into state courts, and Democrats embarked on a concerted campaign to gain control of those bodies ahead of redistricting.
n Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court’s decision solidifies the maps, making few changes to how they currently stand. But the map still could prove to be a boon to Republicans’ quest for the majority in 2022 because of the number of closely divided battleground districts. The GOP could ultimately win 11 of the state’s 17 districts in the current political environment.
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Greg Abbott, Beto O'Rourke secure nominations for governor's race in Texas primary election
Source: Austin American-Statesman
Gov. Greg Abbott won the Republican party nomination in his campaign for a third term in office on Tuesday, fending off two challengers who sought to push the governor further to the right on key issues in the race.
Abbott will face Beto O'Rourke in the November general election, after the El Paso Democrat cruised to victory in the Democratic primary contest with more than 90% of the vote, according to initial results. The Associated Press called the race for both candidates based on initial results from early voting statewide.
Abbott faced seven challengers in his reelection bid: Chad Prather, Don Huffines, Allen West, Danny Harrison, Kandy Kaye Horn, Paul Belew and Rick Perry (not the former Texas governor). Huffines, a former state senator from Dallas who ran to Abbott's right, said in a statement that he would not challenge the outcome of Tuesday's election, acknowledging Abbott's victory.
"Though I will not be contesting the outcome of this election, I will not be going away," Huffines said in a statement. "I will always fight to defend the God-given rights and liberties of Texans." O'Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, declared victory in Tuesday's primary at an event in Fort Worth. "It looks like, from the early returns, I will be your nominee for governor for the state of Texas," he said.
(Los Angeles Times) Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will not run for Senate this year, the Republican said Thursday, putting an end to speculation that he would hop into one of the most hotly contested battles in the upcoming midterm elections.
His decision represents a setback for Republicans in their effort to recapture a majority in the Senate, which Democrats currently control by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. A proven vote-getter in Arizona, Ducey was widely seen as a strong opponent for incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly.
Ducey, in a letter to donors, said that instead of a Senate run, he would focus on serving out his final term and, through his role as leader of the Republican Governors Assn., help try to win governorships for his party across the country.
Ducey is the third GOP governor this year to decline to seek a Senate seat despite dogged recruitment efforts by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, two Republicans who have mounted successful campaigns in blue states, also opted out of Senate races, indicating little appetite for joining the gridlocked upper chamber.
“These days, if you’re going to run for public office, you have to really want the job. Right now, I have the job I want,” Ducey wrote in the letter, which was first reported by the Arizona Republic.
(Politico) RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — Beneath a deep blue sky flecked by cirrus clouds, the towering palm trees that line Rio Grande City’s downtown sway as though keeping time with the high school marching band. Pickup trucks tug trailers covered in metallic tinsel, sunflowers and American flags. The parade, the mid-February kickoff to the Starr County Fair, rolls past the stately but declining, yellow-brick courthouse that Henry Cuellar recently earmarked several million dollars to save.
First though, Cuellar’s allies must save him. And it might come down to Starr County.
On Tuesday, Cuellar faces a rematch against Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney who’s running as a Bernie Sanders-endorsed progressive in a district that has elected the most conservative Democrat in Congress for nine terms running. But Cuellar’s grip on the sprawling 28th district, which stretches from the eastern outskirts of San Antonio south to the Rio Grande Valley and upriver to Laredo, slipped in the 2020 primary when Cisneros came within 2,746 votes of dislodging him. It was close across the district, but here in Starr County, Cuellar ran away with it. He won 70 percent of the vote and performed nearly as well when he romped to victory in the general election. Starr County, several people in town told me, was the margin that ensured Cuellar’s survival.
Starr County, along with neighboring Zapata County, got a burst of national notice in 2020 when former President Donald Trump performed much better than expected in the largely Hispanic, longtime Democratic strongholds. Zapata flipped Republican, voting for Trump by four percentage points, and Starr came close. The analysis in the immediate aftermath suggested that voters in the region had grown impatient with liberal identity politics and that they were becoming increasingly open to Republican messaging. I wondered if that rightward shift in this less populous but still crucial region spelled trouble even for an anti-abortion Democrat like Cuellar.
Cuellar’s political fortunes took a hit earlier this year when the FBI raided his Laredo home and campaign headquarters….officials have said nothing about the nature of the investigation, though various reports have suggested it has something to do with his longstanding ties to oil interests in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.
(Common Dreams) It used to be rare for mail-in ballots to be thrown out in Texas, but thanks to the GOP's new voter suppression law, more than 27,000 of them were flagged for rejection during the state's recent primary election, according to a new analysis published Wednesday by The Associated Press.
For Texans who cast ballots by mail, the initial rejection rate was 17% across 120 counties, based on preliminary figures reported by election officials after votes were counted in the state's March 1 primary. Although Texas has 254 counties, the vast majority of the nearly three million people who participated in the nation's first primary of 2022 reside in the 120 counties that provided early data.
AP reported:
For now, the numbers do not represent how many Texas ballots were effectively thrown out. Voters had until Monday to "fix" rejected mail ballots, which in most cases meant providing identification that is now required under a sweeping law signed last fall by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
New requirements include listing an identification number—either a driver's license or a Social Security number—on the ballot's carrier envelope. That number must match the county's records. If a ballot is rejected, voters could add an ID number via an online ballot tracking system, go to the county's election offices and fix the problem in person, or vote with a provisional ballot on election day.
County election officers say they worked feverishly to contact those voters in time, in many cases successfully, and a full and final tally of rejected ballots in Texas is expected to come into focus in the coming days.
(The Hill) Ohio Republican Senate candidates touted their support for former President Trump during a televised statewide debate on Monday.
The former president's potential endorsement has come to define the intraparty contest, which has turned into one of the most closely watched primaries of the election cycle.
This dynamic was on full display at Monday's debate, which was hosted by Cleveland's Nexstar affiliate Fox 8 News when only one of the five candidates on stage, state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) raised their hand when asked if the Republican party should move on from the 2020 election, a reference to Trump's election fraud claims.
Further Extract:
The latest polling shows (Mike) Gibbons in the lead among GOP primary voters. An Emerson College-The Hill poll released last week showed him with 22 percent support. (Josh) Mandel trailed at 15 percent support, while (J.D.) Vance came in at 8 percent. (Jane) Timken and Dolan each received 6 percent support. Another 39 percent of Republican primary voters said they were undecided.
(Common Dreams) A super PAC supporting corporate Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb in his U.S. Senate run appears to be gearing up for an attack on his primary challenger Lt. Gov. John Fetterman—who's commanding a 30-point lead—over his support for widely backed progressive proposals.
Documents obtained by Politico reveal the super PAC, Penn Progress, attempting to blame Lamb's (D-Pa.) position well behind Fetterman on voters' lack of understanding that the candidate supports forward-thinking policies.
"[P]rimary voters don't yet see Fetterman as the liberal he is," said the group, according to Politico, which obtained a memo from Penn Progress to prospective donors. "For Conor Lamb to have a path in the primary, this dynamic needs to change."
Penn Progress cited a survey taken in February by Impact Research, which showed 47% of likely voters intended to support Fetterman, who gained national prominence in recent years by leading a push to legalize recreational marijuana use.
Just 17% of voters said they supported Lamb. Thirteen percent were undecided.
(Anchorage Daily News) Alaskans will pick a temporary replacement for the late U.S. Rep. Don Young in special elections on June 11 and Aug. 16, said Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and members of his administration on Tuesday.
In an unprecedented move, the June 11 primary will take place mostly by mail, with ballots sent automatically to all Alaska voters registered at least 30 days before the election. The Aug. 16 general election will occur on the same day, and on the same ballot, as Alaska’s regular primary election.
The June 11 primary would be the state’s first statewide by-mail election, Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, said at a news conference with administration officials. The Aug. 16 general election would also be the first campaign decided by Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, adopted in a citizens initiative in 2020.
She said that given the short notice, a possible shortage of poll workers and logistics issues, there was no other option.
“We have a lot of challenges this year. It’s probably the toughest year that I know of, to have an election,” Meyer said.
