Monday, November 04, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

With the week's round-up, the Texas Progressive Alliance thanks you for casting your ballot.


Tuesday is Election Day. Texas voters will decide the fates of 10 constitutional amendments, elect three new state representatives (or at least narrow the fields to two candidates per seat), elect local officials and settle other propositions and special elections.

Harris County early in-person and mail ballot voting will be released shortly after polls close at 7 p.m., but Election Day tallies will be delayed to the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  The Texas Secretary of State's requirement that all MBBs at polling places throughout the county must be physically transported to the central counting station -- rather than electronically transmitted remotely -- means a long wait deep into the night for the ('unofficial') final results, or you can just go to bed and read about who won and who lost right here.

About 800,000 Texans voted early statewide, accounting for 5% of registered voters. Roughly one out of every five early votes was cast in Harris County, where early turnout was 6.5%. Turnout in Dallas County was just south of 3%. Early turnout exceeded 10% in 19 of the state’s 254 counties, peaking at 28% in Deaf Smith County, where voters are considering a $36 million bond package for a new sheriff’s office and jail. Reported turnout was less than 1% in six counties. The lowest reported early turnout was in Starr County, where 0.3% of registered voters have cast ballots.

Early voting turnout in HD28 appears to be around 12% and around 10% in HD148. We do not have an estimate for HD100.

Regarding Houston' municipal elections, we know -- thanks to political consultant Keir Murray -- that the early vote turnout was about even with previous cycles, and that the voter demographic profile skews older, whiter, Democratic, and female.  I would posit that this is good news for Mayor Turner, Controller Brown, and the Democrats running for at-large seats.

Legal matters weighed heavily on Texas bloggers and lefty pundits last week.

Meredith Lawrence at the Dallas Observer, Eoin Higgins at Common Dreams, and Kuff looked at the lawsuit filed by Democratic groups over the new law banning temporary voting locations.  Ballot Access News reports that the Texas Democratic Party is also suing over the state law that dictates ballot order ...

On November 1, the Texas Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the Texas law on order of candidates on the ballot. Miller v Hughs, w.d., 1:19cv-1071. It is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel, a Bush Jr. appointee. Here is the Complaint.

The Texas law says that the top names on the general election ballot are the nominees of the party that won the last gubernatorial election. Thus Republicans have been listed first for over 24 years.

... and that a decision on an earlier suit regarding filing fees for minor parties might be imminent.

Although the lawsuit will be lengthy and covers many issues, there is likely to be a decision soon on whether to enjoin the new filing fees for convention parties. The 2019 legislature passed a bill that, for the first time, requires candidates of parties that nominate by convention to pay the same filing fees that primary candidates pay. That issue needs to be settled fast, because the fees or petitions in lieu of the fee are due very soon.

Jim Henson and Joshua Blank at the Texas Politics Project analyze the October UT/Trib poll that shows plurality support for the Trump impeachment inquiry.  That poll also revealed the leaders for winning the Texas Democratic presidential primary next March, and the popularity of Senate contenders compared to John Cornyn.


In his weekly update of the 2020 race for the White House, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs covered the latest in the Congressional impeachment inquiry, Joe Biden's cash flow problems, Elizabeth Warren's Medicare for All funding proposal, and Bernie Sanders' resurgence, among all of the other candidates' latest developments.  C.D. Hooks, writing for Texas Monthly, bade farewell to Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign.


SocraticGadfly wished a Happy Reformation Day from his other blog to some gun nutz for Luther, officially known as Armed Lutheran Radio and headquartered right here in Texas.

The state's electricity market drew some attention this past week.



And there was the usual bad behavior by fossil fuel companies.



Some horrifying statistics associated with the state's ongoing neglect of our children.


Sanford Nowlin at the San Antonio Current reported on the continuing fight over the Alamo City's paid sick leave ordinance.

With that, we'll close this Wrangle with some lighter news.

Therese Odell at Foolish Watcher thanked Washington Nationals fans for their appropriate greeting of Trump at the World Series.  Prior to Game 5, an anonymous Astros fan thanked D.C. for their hospitality by buying an ad in the Washington Post, and the Nationals and some of their fans purchased ads in the Houston Chronicle thanking the Astros and their fans after they won the Series.


Following the Texans' win in London over the Jacksonville Jaguars, quarterback Deshaun Watson attributed the successful healing of his kicked eye the previous Sunday to "them Popeye's spicy chicken sandwiches that I ate this week".


Pete Freedman at Central Track asks the important question: Was the founder of the city of Dallas, John Neely Bryan, a cephalopod?




And the TPA congratulates the Texas Tribune on its tenth anniversary.
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