Saturday Funnies (Beckapalooza edition)

Abbott punts debate decision; White to debate empty chair

While Rick Perry continues to duck a debate with Bill White, Greg Abbott apparently delegates those decisions to his staff. So while BAR waits for Abbott's people to decide whether he's a chicken or not, White prepares to debate the governor in absentia.

The Austin American-Statesman and the state's other major newspapers will host a gubernatorial debate event this fall, even if just one candidate shows up.

The newspapers, along with Austin public television station KLRU, will deliver a letter to Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White today inviting them to a debate at the KLRU studios on the University of Texas campus at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19.

Perry has said he will not accept debate invitations until White agrees to release his income tax returns from his time as deputy energy secretary in the mid-1990s.

"If only one candidate shows up for the debate, we will discuss issues with him alone for the entire hour," says the letter, which is signed by the editors of the American-Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, as well as Bill Stotesbery, the CEO of KLRU.

Meanwhile, Abbott (with the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith -- video at the link):

I asked Attorney General Greg Abbott if he planned to debate his Democratic opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, in the weeks before the Nov. 2 general election. Against the backdrop of the Perry-White debate do-si-do, I figured Abbott, a self-professed champion of open government and transparency, would leap at the chance to say, in essence, "Yes, anywhere, any time, etc." To the contrary, the GOP incumbent turfed the responsibility for making that decision to his staff.

Abbott seems to be coasting on several things lately.

Is this really the "leadership" Texas needs now? Or any time, for that matter?

Update: from the most recent Radnofsky press release...

(Abbott:) "That is going to be up to the people who run my campaign. I don't make those decisions." When a follow up question asking why it couldn't be up to him to make the decision, Mr. Abbott said, "I pay good money to people who run my campaign. I make them earn their money." Mr. Abbott also emphasized: "As far as I know my team either has or has not decided. They will let me know as we build out our schedule."

Radnofsky: "Mr. Abbott's statements reflect his bad judgment. Taxpayers pay Mr. Abbott 'good money' to make key decisions. A public official should not palm off the decision to debate vital issues of the day. Mr. Abbott wrongly abdicates his responsibility."

Harris County elections warehouse burns *updates*

It's where the voting machines are stored.

Firefighters are battling a three-alarm blaze at a northeast Houston warehouse that stores the majority of voting equipment in Houston and Harris County, according to HFD.

The Harris County Election Technologies Center, located on Canino at Downey, caught fire around 4:20 this morning, quickly growing to three-alarms.

The warehouse stores more than 10,000 pieces of equipment including voting booths and E-slates, which are used in the election process.

This comes before the general elections to be held November 2, which includes Governor’s race. Early voting is scheduled to begin in October.

Beverly Kaufman probably wishes she had retired a few months ago. Now she has a fairly huge challenge. Depending on the scope of the damage, of course (which I'm certain is still being assessed as I post this) she must choose -- and then train poll workers and then implement -- a partial or entirely new voting method for the second-largest county in the nation. All in about seven or eight weeks' time. Projected voter turnout somewhere around four million hundred thousand, give or take a million hundred thousand (sorry, one too many zeros).

Is there sufficient equipment stored elsewhere in the state by Hart InterCivic that can be shipped to arrive here in time? If not, then what alternate system will be used?

You can almost hear the shrieking now of "voter fraud" from both camps, can't you? Then there will naturally be the lawsuits, some before and more after the fact.

Together with the Vasquez vs. Houston Votes undercard, we are guaranteed a barnburner (*groan*) of an election cycle in Harris County, and that's before we mention a single race.

Lunchtime update: all 10,000 e-Slates and accompanying MBBs were destroyed. There's a press conference scheduled this afternoon where Kaufman will announce a plan going forward, which seems at this point to consist of borrowing machines from neighboring counties. There isn't anything close to 10,000 DREs on standby in the entire state; I'd be surprised if she can collect 1,000 from Harris County's next-door neighbors. So rather than try to get something in on short notice to replace the former system, Kaufman apparently wants to keep the current protocol in place, which does have the value of minimizing errors, opportunities for mischief, and liability on her part. I predict she will underscore the importance of early voting and patience. Early conclusion: we'll have considerably fewer machines to vote with, and much longer lines to stand in to vote.

Evening update:  First, from Kos ...

"Because I don’t expect to have 10,000 pieces to work with, no matter what we do, I’m sure that we’re going to be putting on a full court press urging people to vote early," Kaufman said.

Then this from Brad Friedman ...

A source familiar with Hart Intercivic tells The BRAD BLOG that the nation's fourth-largest e-voting company has fallen on hard times of late and does not have machines to ship to replace those lost in the fire.

If they can't get "similar machines" from somewhere, how, oh, how will the citizens of Houston be able to have elections this year?! Especially since pieces of paper, pens, eyeballs, citizen oversight and common frickin' sense were all long ago outlawed in Harris County, Texas, apparently.