GOP bill aimed at increasing transparency could sow chaos for election officials: experts
1 month ago

GOP bill aimed at increasing transparency could sow chaos for election officials: experts

Raw Story  

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletter here. Key Texas lawmakers are reviving legislation that would require election officials to respond within set time frames to requests to explain “election irregularities” from certain party officials and election workers. The bill would allow candidates, county party chairs, election or alternate judges — election judges are tasked with supervising polling locations — and leaders of political action committees to request that election officials “provide an explanation to election irregularities or violations of the law and to provide supporting documentation” of such. Bettencourt said that for months after that election, county election officials “refused to answer questions.” The bill would help prevent that, he said. How Bettencourt’s bill would impact election officials Election officials are already required to keep detailed documentation for nearly every step of the election process.

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History of this topic

Texas county braces for heightened election oversight in 2024
4 months, 2 weeks ago

Texas county braces for heightened election oversight in 2024

Raw Story  

The Secretary of State’s Office will again assign state inspectors to observe the handling and counting of ballots and monitor election records in Harris County, the state agency said while releasing a new audit outlining problems with the county’s elections in 2021 and 2022. The audit, released late Friday, found that in those years, Harris County election officials did not …

Texas officials compromised ballot secrecy as they increased election transparency
7 months, 1 week ago

Texas officials compromised ballot secrecy as they increased election transparency

Raw Story  

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune and in Votebeat. Election administration experts and voter advocates say Texas lawmakers need to find a better balance between transparency and voters’ ballot privacy — and clarify the roles county elections administrators and the Secretary of State’s office play in getting there. In a public statement last week, Nelson’s office said county …

Texas releases another audit of elections in Harris County, where GOP still challenging losses
1 year, 2 months ago

Texas releases another audit of elections in Harris County, where GOP still challenging losses

Associated Press  

AUSTIN, Texas — A second Texas audit in as many years of elections in Harris County, the third-most populous county in the U.S., called for improvements but does not suggest that race outcomes in 2022 were impacted by issues that Republicans have used to contest losses and take more control over voting in the Democratic stronghold. It also follows Republicans …

False allegations of voter fraud in 2020 led to increased threats against Texas election workers
2 years, 4 months ago

False allegations of voter fraud in 2020 led to increased threats against Texas election workers

Raw Story  

A rise in election-related misinformation has led to increased threats and intimidation of election workers in Texas and other states, according to a report released Thursday by a U.S. House committee. A Texas elections administrator from Tarrant County told the committee there was a social media call to “hang him when convicted for fraud and let his lifeless body hang …

Some GOP states seek new police units for election probes
2 years, 9 months ago

Some GOP states seek new police units for election probes

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republicans responding to the myth of widespread voter fraud are turning to a new tactic to appease voters who believe the claims: election police. The efforts to establish law enforcement units dedicated to investigating election crimes come as Republican lawmakers and governors move to satisfy the millions of voters in their party who believe former President Donald …

What Happens When Local Officials Can't Run Elections Because Of New GOP Laws
3 years, 2 months ago

What Happens When Local Officials Can't Run Elections Because Of New GOP Laws

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING State and local officials took swift action in 2020 to ensure voters could access the polls with mail ballots and alternative voting options in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. These new laws were all inspired by former President Donald Trump’s lie that the successful changes implemented by state and local election officials led to widespread election fraud …

EXPLAINER: How a new GOP law in Texas makes voting harder
3 years, 4 months ago

EXPLAINER: How a new GOP law in Texas makes voting harder

Associated Press  

AUSTIN, Texas — The sweeping changes to Texas’ election code that GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Tuesday make it harder — sometimes even legally riskier — to cast a ballot in the state, which already has some of the nation’s most restrictive voting laws. As recently as 1962, Republican poll watchers in some parts of Texas challenged Black …

Texas governor signs Republican-backed voting restrictions
3 years, 4 months ago

Texas governor signs Republican-backed voting restrictions

Al Jazeera  

New law prevents officials from sending out unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and empowers partisan poll-watchers. The new Texas law is the latest in a series passed this year in a national campaign in Republican-led states, including in Florida, Georgia and Arizona, to create new barriers to voting following former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen …

EXPLAINER: Details of the final version of Texas voting bill
3 years, 4 months ago

EXPLAINER: Details of the final version of Texas voting bill

Associated Press  

AUSTIN, Texas — The sweeping changes to Texas’ election code now awaiting GOP Gov. Here’s a closer look at what’s in the final version of the legislation: EMPOWERING POLL WATCHERS Some of the most significant changes in the Texas legislation concerns partisan poll watchers, the volunteers deployed by both major parties to observe voting and counting. As recently as 1962, …

Texas Legislature sends sweeping GOP voting bill to governor
3 years, 4 months ago

Texas Legislature sends sweeping GOP voting bill to governor

LA Times  

The Texas Legislature sent a sweeping rewrite of the state’s election laws to Republican Gov. The rest of the far-reaching legislation, spurred in part by former President Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, had set off a heated summer in Texas of walkouts by Democrats, Republican threats of arrests, Abbott’s veto of the paychecks of thousands of rank-and-file staffers …

EXPLAINER: What’s in the Texas GOP’s voting bills?
3 years, 5 months ago

EXPLAINER: What’s in the Texas GOP’s voting bills?

Associated Press  

The Texas voting bills that prompted state Democrats’ flight to Washington this week include a raft of tweaks and changes to the state’s election code. As recently as 1962, Republican poll watchers in some parts of Texas challenged Black and Latino voters to read and explain the U.S. Constitution before casting ballots as part of a campaign dubbed “Operation Eagle …

GOP lawmakers pushing new election-auditing office in budget
3 years, 6 months ago

GOP lawmakers pushing new election-auditing office in budget

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republicans and Democrats are feuding over whether Pennsylvania’s roughly $40 billion budget package negotiated behind closed doors and passed within hours of becoming public includes money for the state auditor general to begin auditing election results. The idea to create an election-auditing bureau under the independently elected auditor general gained currency in the Republican-controlled Legislature amid former …

Here Are The Texas GOP's Reasons For Voting Restrictions — And Why Critics Disagree
3 years, 7 months ago

Here Are The Texas GOP's Reasons For Voting Restrictions — And Why Critics Disagree

NPR  

Here Are The Texas GOP's Reasons For Voting Restrictions — And Why Critics Disagree Enlarge this image toggle caption Gary Miller/Getty Images Gary Miller/Getty Images Texas Republicans say their controversial move to tighten voter restrictions is sorely needed to prevent fraud. Here's a look at what the voting legislation's supporters are saying and how their critics respond: What supporters say: …

‘An anti-democratic power grab’: Georgia Republicans pass sweeping restrictions on voting and gain greater control over elections
3 years, 9 months ago

‘An anti-democratic power grab’: Georgia Republicans pass sweeping restrictions on voting and gain greater control over elections

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who founded an organisation to combat voter …

Election officials say combating lies will be big challenge
3 years, 11 months ago

Election officials say combating lies will be big challenge

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “It’s unfortunate that is the case that we …

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