Deadlines: Tomorrow (Thursday) is the deadline to register to vote for the May 5 uniform and special elections. Also, 30-day-out campaign finance reports are due for candidates running in jurisdictions that require them, including the three candidates running in the HD13 special election.
Labor Endorsements: Texas AFL-CIO COPE announced it has endorsed several candidates in runoffs, including several dual endorsements:
- SD17: Rita Lucido and Fran Watson
- HD13 special: Cecil Webster
- HD47: Elaina Fowler
- CD7: Laura Moser
- CD21 open: Joseph Kopser and Mary Wilson
- CD23: Gina Ortiz Jones and Rick Treviño; and
- CD27 open: Eric Holguin
All candidates except Webster are running in the Democratic runoff. The union had not previously endorsed in these races except for CD23, for which it originally endorsed Jay Hulings.
Austin: Rich DePalma, a consultant and vice-chair of the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, announced he would challenge council member Ellen Troxclair. He joins at least three other challengers: marketing manager Paige Ellis, environmental attorney Bobby Levinski and Concordia University police officer Shane Sexton. The election is in November.
Plano: The group Our Plano One Plano has submitted a petition containing more than 4,400 signatures seeking to recall council member Tom Harrison over inflammatory social media posts. The city secretary has five days to review the petition before reporting to the city council. If the petition is found to be valid, the council would be required to order a recall election, unless Harrison were to resign. Harrison was elected to a four-year term in May 2015. For what it’s worth, Harrison was one of Empower Texans’ local endorsements that year.
Motor Voter Ruling: The state will appeal a federal court ruling that found Texas in violation of the National Voter Registration Act because it does not offer an individual the opportunity to register to vote when he or she updates a driver’s license online.
Voter Fraud Suit: A Kaufman Co. judicial candidate has filed suit alleging voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting in her one-vote Republican primary loss to incumbent County Court-at-Law Judge Dennis jones. Tracy Gray’s suit alleges a single precinct judge was responsible for 11 absentee ballots, including instances where a voter allegedly mailed in multiple votes, and as many as 45 other possible illegal votes. Jones, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, is represented in the case by Wade Emmert, the former chair of the Dallas Co. Republican Party. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell), who was on the ballot in the CD5 primary and is a candidate in the upcoming runoff, called on Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton (R) to investigate.
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