May 8, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter Fraud: The Dallas Co. District Attorney has opened a criminal investigation into complaints of mail-ballot fraud that could impact two city council races. At least 670 mail-in ballots received from residents of council Districts 2 and 6 have been sequestered by...
May 2, 2017 | Campaign News
Early voting has concluded in most jurisdictions holding elections on Saturday. Single-punch Repeal: A bill that would end the practice of voting for every candidate of one political party using a single punch or other action is on the House calendar for Friday. House...
Mar 13, 2017 | Legislation, Straight-ticket Voting
The House Elections Committee approved a bill to end the “single-punch” option for straight-party voting by a 5-2 party line vote following more than an hour of public testimony. Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton) explained that House Bill 25 was about getting voters to...
Mar 12, 2017 | Campaign News
CD21: Austin musician Rixi Melton filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to challenge U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio) as a Democrat. Bexar Co.: “At least once a year, staffers in one of Texas’ largest election offices scour the web...
Mar 8, 2017 | Campaign News
HD46: Lawyers for Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) asked District Judge Brad Urrutia to throw out four of the 13 felony charges against her at a hearing today (Wednesday). Her attorneys argued that the statute of limitations had expired by the time of her indictment and...
Mar 2, 2017 | Straight-ticket Voting
Once again, Texas led all states in straight-party voting. No state’s voters came close to casting more straight-party votes than Texans, and no other state saw straight-party votes represent a greater share of all votes cast than Texas. Texans cast a record 5.6M...
Mar 1, 2017 | By the Numbers, Straight-ticket Voting
Forty Texas House districts saw one party’s candidate have at least a 20K-vote advantage in straight-party voting for the 2016 general election, up from 27 in 2012. Of the 40 seats, Republicans held the advantage in 27 seats, and Democrats held the advantage in 13. On...
Feb 13, 2017 | Legislation, Straight-ticket Voting
Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton) filed House Bill 25, which would eliminate the option of voting for every candidate of a given party by making a single mark on the ballot, known as straight-party or straight-ticket voting. It is identical to House Bill 433, also filed...
Feb 2, 2017 | Federal Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
The federal Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted about three dozen districts across the country won by Hillary Clinton but electing a Republican representative, including Dallas Co.-based CD32. U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) has been the only...
Feb 1, 2017 | Political Climate, Straight-ticket Voting
Speaker Joe Straus said the state should end straight-party voting. Prompted by Chief Justice Nathan Hecht’s State of the Judiciary address, Straus said, “Too often, good men and women are swept out of down-ballot offices due to the political winds at the moment.”...
Jan 31, 2017 | Federal Race Analyses, Straight-ticket Voting
The federal Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has set its sights on three Texas districts currently held by Republicans, including Harris Co.-based CD7, which has been represented by a Republican since 1967. Only the U.S. Senate seat occupied by John Cornyn...
Jan 17, 2017 | Campaign News
Rice University’s Baker Institute released a research report examining the impact of straight-party voting on judicial elections in Texas, one of only two states that initially elects, and re-elects, its judiciary in partisan elections where voters have the option of...
