Race and politics in the heart of Texas….
By its state lawmakers….
The new election proposals include a number of restrictions championed by former president Donald Trump. The measures would ban several election programs implemented last year to help people vote during the coronavirus pandemic, including drive-through voting and 24-hour and late-night voting. Voting rights advocates noted that voters of color used these programs disproportionately, meaning they could disproportionately feel the impact of the restrictions.
Both the House and Senate bills, which are likely to change as they make their way through the legislative process, omitted a particularly controversial provision considered by lawmakers in May that would have prohibited early voting before 1 p.m. on Sundays. Democrats and civil rights activists decried the measure as a direct assault on “Souls to the Polls,” the get-out-the-vote program that encourages Black voters to vote early on Sundays after church services….
Update on Texas voter suppression efforts…
Texas House Democrats Preparing to Flee the State
“Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives plan to leave the state and fly to Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon, in a bid to again deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new voting restrictions with 27 days left in a special legislative session called largely for that purpose,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“Upping the ante in both the legislative fight at home and the national debate over voting rights, most House Democrats are expected to board a flight out of Austin headed for the U.S. capital without a set return date. They’ll need at least 51 of the 67 Democratic representatives to flee for their plan to work.”
NBC News: “The unusual move, akin to what Democrats did in 2003, would paralyze the chamber, stopping business until the lawmakers return to town or the session ends.”
<People in Texas who wanted to testify about a bill that would introduce new voting restrictions waited for 17 hours, the Texas Tribune reported.
Nearly 300 people – mostly opposed to the legislation – signed up to testify about the bill, according to the report.
The GOP-backed legislation in the state would limit 24-hour voting, drive-thru voting, and voting-by mail.
Texans who wished to testify before the state legislature Saturday about GOP-backed measures to introduce new voting restrictions had to wait for up to 17 hours, the Texas Tribune reported.
Some people arrived Saturday morning at the Texas State Capitol as early as 6 a.m., according to the report, but they wouldn’t get the opportunity to speak until after 1:40 a.m. on Sunday.
Many of the 295 people who signed up to testify before the House had arrived by 8 a.m. on Saturday, according to the Tribune, and most of them came to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3, the Republican attempts to enact tougher voting restrictions….
https://news.yahoo.com/texans-reportedly-waited-17-hours-150550954.html
Voting 24 hours seven days a week for two weeks prior to Election Day.
Always have supported it .
Still do.
The arguments against it are almost always made by Republicans.
And who exactly is going to staff the late night voter-rama?
How about like 8 hours a day 7 days a week? Plus, there are always mail in ballots.
People are who are paid to do so.
Please…that’s all you’ve got ?It will cost too much ?
That’s funny.
Who are you going to pay to do so? You will have to find a lot more people and finding competent Election Judges is already difficult enough.
You know very well that the overwhelming majority of Election Judges are people of retirement age. You think they are going to volunteer to work the graveyard shift?
That’s funny.
You’re not even serious.
It costs too much.
That’s all you’ve got
Costs too much and there is no way to staff it. Who is going to work the graveyard shift for the amount of money Election Judges are paid? There is more than enough early voting and of course mail in voting that can be done 24/7, with or without clothing.
What you suggest is not remotely serious.
I would support 24/7
But Jack’s right
It’s cost prohibitive
No, I am right. It cannot be done.
Liberals have often had pie-in the sky, feel good, ideas that in the light of day are impossible.
It is literally, very, very easy to vote though. Like really, really easy.
Texas Republicans Vote to Track Down Democrats
The Texas House voted to send law enforcement to track down Democrats who left the state a day earlier in protest of Republicans’ priority elections legislation “under warrant of arrest if necessary,” the Texas Tribune reports.
Anybody who thinks the tactics in Texas by the legislative minority are acceptable clearly would have to also support the filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
I support the filibuster in the US Senate.
So does Biden and Manchin….
It isn’t going anywhere….
So do I..
I agree with Jack, the limited 24 hour drive through voting that was used in parts of Texas worked very well.
For the record it’s administered by Board of Election employees and not senior citizen volunteers. The Board employees got overtime and did a great job.
It increased voter participation dramatically where it was used because this isn’t your mother’s nine-to-five world anymore and people work at odd hours. In fact the whole program was safe, efficient, popular, and honest.
No wonder the Republicans want to stop it.
Robert Reich
@RBReich
So let me get this straight: AT&T claims to support voting rights, but also donated $100K to Greg Abbott the same day he called for a special session to pass voter suppression laws?
Robert Reich
@RBReich
The Texas Senate has ended requirements that social studies classes include the civil rights movement and women’s suffrage. Among figures dropped: Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony. Just the start of Republican-induced ignorance of our past?
Jennifer Bendery
@jbendery
The Texas Senate just passed a bill to nix the requirement that public schools teach kids that the Ku Klux Klan + the history of white supremacy were wrong.
Their bill also drops the req that students be taught MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Article on 24 hour voting
https://www.chron.com/news/election2020/article/24-hour-voting-houston-texas-15688475.php
Sounds like it was wildly successful and from what I’ve experienced a lot of Gen X and millennials joined the ranks of election judges in 2020. I know a half dozen people in their 30s and 40s who went through training and became election judges.
CG and James are wrong on this
Other parts of the country have different demographics. You are referencing a specific high population area. Nobody ever wants to actually consider factors beyond “what feels good” to them. That is a trait of liberalism perhaps. The idea makes no sense whatsoever. There are ample early voting opportunities. Nobody works 7 straight days, all day every day. If they have to, they can vote by mail of course.
Generally speaking, having people go vote late at night, perhaps straight from the bar, is a very bad idea.. unless they want to do it in their own home, which they can. Isn’t that a money saver too?
So now it’s not that it’s too expensive it’s that then young people will vote after going to the bars. This is hilarious. First of all there is nothing in the article that mentions those voting late at night are drunk. That’s your own prejudice showing. Also you are aware bars are open in the day too right?
Retired people or those off work at 3 pm can hit the bars before voting just as easily.
Such a weird argument to make but typical. Republicans hare the idea of young people enjoying or being enthusiastic about voting.
It’s a dumb, pointless, unfeasible idea, that would only serve as a mechanism to cheat. Is this going to be for every primary? Every local election? On average, people can have something to vote for twice a year, every day, and places that have runoffs, etc, more than that.
Your thing about the bars is of course an “all or nothing” fallacy that has no relevance to the main point. When are people most likely to go bars? You certainly know from your own experience, that you have come on here late at night and made threatening posts that had to be taken down and you were glad they were taken down in the light of day.
If people can vote in their own homes 24/7 and mail in their ballot, why would they have to go to a polling place at 3 am?
“You certainly know from your own experience”.
What are you trying to tell me? Just say it.
That you have in the past gotten drunk, come on this blog late at night, and threatened to harm me physically. james took those posts down and the next day (or whenever) you said you regretted what you said under that condition and was glad the threatening posts were removed.
We’ve all said things on here we regret I believe.
Seems like after apologizing, expressing regret and not doing it again the adult thing would be to let it go and not try to pain me as a violent drunk. But you seem to turn a blind eye to your own odd obsessive behavior on here that I don’t think have anything to do with substance.
I only have a amajor issue with one person on here, which is well deserved on his part and I own up to it. I have never threatened violence or anything illegal.
I have been very forgiving to you over the years, but perhaps I do have a hard time letting some things go, for right or wrong. You need to simply accept though that we have a disagreement on 24/7 voting and other matters. Your first instinct is always to go personal.
You are the one who brought up alcohol as though it had anything to do with the subject of 24 hour voting. Anf then accused me of being a drunk. (Something you’ve done before if I misspell something)
So who made it personal?
He’s “rarely wrong!”
Years ago he referred to me as a “disbarred” lawyer
I thought he was joking .
Maybe he wasnt(like I give a damn about some person on a political blog calling me names)
It would be a greater problem with 24 hour (including weekend) voting between the voters, the judges, the poll watchers, etc.
No, didn’t accuse you of being a “drunk”, just pointing out how people do things under the influence they regret. I don’t really know you, but I hope you are nicer in real life to people you disagree with.
I think you are thinking of the Texan who called you that.
Why ate U guys still on the 24/7 vote thing?
It’s a nonstarter
PERIOD…..
Nonstarter and dumb as all get-out.
Though I am trying not to judge the intentions of those who suggest it, although it can be tempting to do so. I will maintain that good intentions are behind it, but good intentions can often lead to very bad results.
Nah I remember it clearly.About 13 years ago on the P1 comments.I remember it because I told a friend that a guy named Corey called me that on a political blog.His reply was that “”you probably should have been a long time ago!”
Like I said though I don’t give a damn what anyone here calls me.
In 45 years of practicing law?Ive been called every name in the book.Some of them are pretty funny too!
It’s a great idea !
And when you and James are both against it?That goes far in convincing me that it’s a good idea
As for it being “dumb?” No more “dumb” than Republicans trying to reduce voting times, absentee voting and reducing” the number of lock boxes, etc
See “dumb “ is in the eye of the beholder,right?
I agree it’s not going to happen though.
Too bad
I don’t remember that from 13 years ago. If it was said, it was probably a joke. You and bdog are the only people who post here whom I do not know a “real identity.”
Of course, whenever I get called a Nazi sympathizer here, you just say I should grow a “thicker skin.”
Really really dumb idea. Why are you suddenly opposed to absentee voting?
When you were a young man, was there any “early voting?” Did you have any option but to turn out on Election Day?
Let us of course not forget the issue that the P1 blog had with imposters, handle stealers, etc, especially in 2008, when I pretty much stopped posting there because of emailed anti-Semitic death threats from a crazy leftist.
Yes you’re quite the “victim.”
Some guy calls you a name and it drives you that damn crazy on a damn political blog?
Good God man !
Get real!
Hell my life has been threatened many times.
I don’t come on here whining about it.
I never said I was opposed to absentee voting.
Quit making things up!
Maybe I’ll call you a name?woooooo!
Not “crazy” but its just disappointing to see you and others just shrug and treat the person saying it as if he were perfect.. If it were said about you, I would try to stand up for you, (I’ve even defended you against things james said about you) but I guess we are just different people.
Your tribe comes before all else.
Absentee voting certainly eliminates any need for 24/7 voting.
You can 24/7 vote at home… just once though.
I never said he was “perfect”.”
So I don’t know where that came from.
In fact he and I have disagreed on occasion.
Oh and as for defending me from James?Haha!Thats a good laugh.Me or anyone else needing to be “defended “ from him?
You got to be kidding!
So, it’s a “good people on both sides now”, or maybe not even that.
you have to admit that james sure knows how to get your goat. You react to him quite maniacally at times. And yes, he can frustrate me too.
I don’t reply to James much anymore.
He’s essentially an illogical, nonsensical person as we both know..
Occasionally I’ll mess with him if I have nothing else to do.
He gets my goat no more than he gets yours.
You will be replying to him over the weekend in a very agitated state. It happens every weekend. Maybe it is a hobby? I don’t know.
Me and Jack are ‘buddies’!😉
And you’ll be replying to him tomorrow.
What’s your point?
Why do you have to “try” to stay away?
You attack Democrats ,libruls etc
Then you voted for Joe Biden
So?
Why? Because working from home sucks.
I “attack” everyone who deserves “attacking.” Lots of them in both parties deserve it, including occasionally Joe Biden.
But tribalism runs deep here for others.
No it doesn’t .
In S.C. for example you have 30:day absentee balloting prior to Election Day.
Further there are people who simply can’t make it to the polls for a variety of health related issues .
Your whole premise is wrong .A 2 week 24 hour voting period would effect absentee voting at all.
You aren’t making sense.
If somebody can vote absentee, they don’t need to come to a polling place at 2 am. They can mail in their ballot.
Absentee voting negates all need for early voting actually, although I would still have a period of early voting during business hours.
Oregon and perhaps another state (Colorado?) have *all* mail in in voting. (which I think is problematic) but that is the decision they made.
So you are suggesting they now have to establish a 24/7 polling location.
No you can have both.
If you’re right then there’s really no sense in having walk in polls at all.
Let it all be by absentee .
There’s no need to have both. You can mail in voting as well as traditional early day voting and Election Day.
The concept of voting 24/7 is truly nutty.
All mail in voting alone makes more sense though that that mashuganah idea.
I’m going to try hard to stay away tomorrow. So, without me as a target, you will probably turn to him, as usual.
Ah parting be such sweet sorrow!
I’ll attack some Republican.
That’ll smoke you out!
You attack Republicans every day, so it’s nothing new.
Yet oddly enough, outside of your semi-secret internet life, you actually vote for them in South Carolina. I’m almost sure you don’t actually own a red hat though.
Now, obviously states and local jurisdictions should have their own procedures to run elections. This suggestion if “we need to have 24/7 voting” is something that would apparently be demanded of every location in America.
The main and only necessary point is that there is no way to staff such a scenario, certainly not in rural or small town America.
Again, voting is really, really easy and keeps getting easier all the time. There is no reason for someone eligible to vote to not vote, once per election, and on the ballot they are supposed to vote on.
Why is voting at home suddenly a problem now that there needs to also be 24/7 in person voting?
Yes that’s why Republicans want to make it even “easier!“
Funny though.I don’t remember Republicans being particularly interested in all this uh”reform” until Donald Trump lost and then unsuccessfully tried to steal the election (with many of these same Republicans who are now so interested in voting “reform “fully supporting and even attempting to assist the theft)
Only after that did Republicans become born again election “reformers.”
Anyone who can’t see that all this is nothing more than the Trump Republican Party trying to please their master by buying into his Big Lie is simply a very partisan Republican.
Then again 70% of Republicans believe the Lie.So there’s that too.
As a non-Democrat and a non-Trumper, I can view things fairly. Both sides have some really bad ideas about how to maximize potential election outcomes to their benefit. In a way, that is understandable, but unfortunately, too many people on both sides would cheat in elections if they could get away with it.
The truth is it is very easy to vote and anybody who wants to vote and who is legally eligible to vote should.
These Gen Xers and Millennials who became Election Judges (for fairly low pay) most likely have jobs or other responsibilities, families, etc. Most likely this was a one day (a very long day) commitment for them on Election Day.
Are they going to work the graveyard shift, away from home, and forget about their regular jobs? For two weeks?
What about poll workers, from parties or campaigns, who have the right to be present at the polls? We really want to put them all together with each other at 3 am? We have things called “Sunshine Laws” for a reason. Yes, polls on Election Day should be open to 6, 7, maybe 8 pm, so it will be dark for a portion of the time, but voting, like government business, should be done in the light of day.
Twenty four hour voting is a truly terrible idea. Absolutely horrifically terrible.
“Government business shoukd be done in the light of day”
You sound like Trump ranting about votes that were counted “in the middle of the night”.
As if the time of day that votes were counted means anything. Typical right wing fear.
The votes should be counted at a reasonable time too, if possible. It has always been the case that they are counted on Election Night. We saw all sorts of places say, “we are calling it a night, we will pick up the counting tomorrow”, which I think Trump objected to the most, so I think you are misstating the issue.
His problem though was that there were not enough votes for him.
I can’t imagine anyone having such a visceral response to voting at odd hours.
It makes no sense unless you have some outdated superstition that things that happen after a certain are inherently “evil”.
It’s just a dumb idea and frustrating because I do not think you and jack are “dumb” people. Either you are not truly serious with this or there is a ton that has not been taken into consideration.
The bottom line is that it would be impossible to staff graveyard shift voting with Election Judges. A one night deal in a hipster area might work as a novelty but that hardly is representative of the country or what would be involved for this over an extended period of time. That should be the end of the discussion.
Nonetheless, no fault, no excuse “absentee voting” by mail eliminates the need for any voter to “not be able to make it to the polls” or “have to stand in line.”
If voting in person is too hard, then vote by mail. Problem solved. As mentioned, there is already at least one state where you cannot vote in person, at all, period.
The line about “hipster areas” is the tell as to what really bothers you about this.
Honestly I would think 24 hour polling places would be more likely to be used by those who work in Amazon fulfillment centers or late night shifts at hospitals, casinos, etc.
People going to and from work.
But it’s the occasional guy in a man bun who might have drank a PBR or smoked an American Spirit before hand that sticks in your craw.
Who is going to staff them around the clock for two weeks? There are parts of the country where all Election Judges are senior citizens/retirees. As mentioned, those who may have signed up to be Election Judges who are younger signed up for a one day deal. They have jobs and families. They are not going to give that up to sit at a polling place for $50. Would you do it? Would jack? I doubt jack is awake past midnight. Again, you would have to do this for every primary, every runoff, every local and municipal election. Some elections have very very little turnout. It’s just dumb. More so, it’s completely pointless.
Why should any of this be federalized anyway? Who is going to pay the bill? Certainly not the federal government. So you are going to ask small, poor counties to somehow pay the bill to make their elections literally at least four times more expensive (with the hours you suggest.)
Some people work different shifts, but between Election Day and early voting/weekend voting, there is more enough opportunity to vote in person. However, all of that is moot because voting by mail eliminates the need for any of this. You are as stubborn and obtuse as james on this. I think you are trying to pull my leg more than anything else at this point.
Goodnight.
WHY IS THIS STILL ROLLING ALONG??????
There are NO 24/7 voting locations ANYWHERE..
Nobody is gonna pay or staff such animals….
This is NOT about politics
This is about government spending and common sense…..
Talk about being stubborn ?????
After a certain hour
Should DMV offices be 24/7? Post offices? Unemployment offices? Why stop with voting?
Within living memory, there were 24-hour-a-day post offices in big cities like Chicago.
Of course, many gas stations, supermarkets, cafés, diners and restaurants are open 24 hours a day, often specifically to serve those whose shifts end after midnight or start before dawn.
Businesses exist to make a profit. They pay people to work there at levels that are certainly not available to the ultra-temp job of Election Judge.
Generally speaking, if a shift ends after midnight, it would begin before 6 pm. They can vote before that. If a shift starts before dawn, it will end before 6 pm and they can vote after that.
If they work 5 straight days, they can early vote on a weekend. If they work weekends, they can early vote during the week. If they are afraid of someone peering over their shoulder and telling them how to vote, maybe they can go to a Starbucks or something to mark their ballot.
I am sure people can vote in their home behind a closed door if needed.
24/7 voting was suggested as a federal requirement on here specifically. This is a problem seeking a solution that would not work and would not remotely be worth the cost to taxpayers.
Next, let’s suggest that anybody who votes and wishes to receive one, can be given a free puppy on their way out of the polling place. That would certainly motivate some to vote that would not otherwise do so.
I doubt that that many people are advocating 168-hour-a-week voting. But several 24-hour windows do make a difference for voters of all persuasions, especially occupied by a job combined with another job(s), in-person classes and/or solo care for children, elders or the disabled. Think of a CNA studying full-time for a RN license, or a police officer or firefighter (who works weird shifts to begin with) with a baby, or the (pro-business) entrepreneur who keeps his shop open for 16 hours a day.
Absentee (mail-in) voting has one huge disadvantage over voting in-person: there’s no guarantee of privacy — not only from ballot-harvesters, but from members of your household or family who may have strong enthusiasm or antipathy for the candidate you were planning to vote for? (“Here, honey, let me show you how to vote on all those different lines”; “How can you vote to kill babies?” “I forbid you to vote for [or against] Trump.” “Let me just check how you filled in that ballot; I’m just curious.”)
I still think that the advantages of no-excuse-required absentee voting outweighs the disadvantages, but those who want to keep their votes secret should have the opportunity to do so whatever their personal schedule.
¶ Just as an aside, 24-hour voting might be a great benefit to employers who would no longer have to break up the work day (sometimes several times in a day) to allow his workers time to vote during polling hours.
If you still belong to the DSA, you should ask why you want to be part of a group that is openly backing the Cuban government which allows zero actual voting hours for its citizens.
I meant “(sometimes several times in a
dayyear)”