This is why republicans are worried about Texas, changes caused by covid in registration, early and mail in voting have short circuited the GOP's usual voter suppression methods, huge numbers are showing up to vote. I'm cautiously optimistic about Texas.
In just seven days of early voting, Harris County was on pace Monday to reach half of its...
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Editorial: Texas’ record turnout is what democracy looks like — in case we forgot
In the land of voter suppression, the determined masses of masked-up voters snaking into polling places and dropping off mail ballots during the first week of early voting can seem more like defiant rebels than dutiful citizens exercising their sacred right to vote.
Rebels, we salute you. Count us among the many to applaud your peaceful, patriotic and long-overdue defiance against the undemocratic forces in Texas that have clung to power by obstruction, intimidation, gerrymandering and other tactics intended to keep Texas’ voter turnout among the lowest in the country.
Texas turnout of eligible voters in the 2016 presidential election was 51.4 percent, compared with a national average of 60.1 percent — a discrepancy largely attributable to the most restrictive voting laws in the nation.
Yet, in just seven days of early voting, Harris County was on pace Monday to reach half of its entire turnout for the 2016 election, according to the county clerk.
This is what democracy looks like, in case we forgot.
And it feels like victory — no matter which candidates win on Nov. 3. Yes, a victory for democracy and against those who have sought to thwart it for decades. In their backroom strategy sessions and courtroom filings, GOP power brokers have followed a corrosive philosophy articulated so well by right-wing strategist Paul Weyrich at a 1980 meeting in Dallas where he chided religious conservatives for their support of “good government.”
“They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote,” Weyrich said. “… As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
But the usual tricks aren’t working this time. Texas is leading the country in ballots cast so far, with more than 4 million votes counted as of Sunday, according to the U.S. Elections Project, a collection of voting statistics compiled by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald.
“Best turnout we’ve had ever. I mean ever,” Republican precinct chair Scott Robbins of Montgomery County told the Chronicle news team Thursday as reporters scrambled to cover record turnout in the Houston suburbs.
Voters have showed up in the face of new fears and obstacles laid determinedly in their path. Certainly, this is a high-stakes election where passions and concerns in all corners are heightened amid a global pandemic, flailing economy and epic contest between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Still, we praise the public officials who have done everything possible to expand access to the polls so that more Texans than ever can make their voices heard.
Interim Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins is top of our list, along with all the workers and others who have helped his office prepare for a swarm of voters in 2020
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