Every Democrat should be concerned about what Republicans and Paxton did in Texas last night

[Quiet Em]

It does not matter if people feel the uncounted votes would not change the outcome. What matters is that thousands of votes are not being counted and that is so very wrong.

[Bettie]

1. It gets people used to the idea of

not every vote being counted.

"It's just an error, oopsie! Your vote won't be counted, but maybe next time".

Spoiler alert: Next time even fewer votes will be counted, they will always have an excuse.

[Lovie777]

2. K & R....................

if Texas GQP can do that now and nothing is done about it, they will do it again to a higher scale in November and thereafter.

Texas GQP refuse to lose and will win any means necessary.

[gab13by13]

3. Next time, in November, it will be Talarico votes that aren't counted.

Magats want 5 hour wait lines in the cities where Democrats are strong. This will not just happen in Dallas in November, this was a test run.

[karynnj]

26. Just like Ohio 2004

Is there actually a decision not to count the votes. Late last night, it seemed like the votes cast by people not in line at the normal closing time were cast by provisional ballots that were kept in a separate "bucket". MSNOW said that a decision of whether they count would be made when the Democratic board of elections will next meet. ( I think they said Monday)

However, the number of votes not yet counted are too few to result in Talarico being below 50. About 92 percent of the vote is counted and he is over 50 percent by slightly under 3 percent. For the remaining 8 percent to put him below 50 percent leading to a runoff, Crockett would need over 70 percent of all remaining votes. She has gotten far less to than that in the already counted day of election vote in Harris and Dallas. ( Her net margin shrunk in both as election day votes were added.)

However, I hope that ALL votes are counted and, if it our decision, they should be added to the official results.

Of greater concern is that changing where you can vote WAS real voter suppression and it happened both in Dallas and Austin, their bases. Clearly this was to call into question results. In addition to muddying the primary results, this should set off alarm bells for the general election where, as always, we should win the big urban areas where this mischief is more likely.

Republicans control the state. It may be that the Democratic party may have to do the work typically done by nonpartisan election officials making sure everyone gets the information on where to vote etc. They can't trust that state government web sites will be accurate.

[wnylib]

29. Florida in 2000, with intervention by SCOTUS on behalf of Bush.

[markodochartaigh]

37. "However, the number of votes not yet counted are too few to result in Talarico being below 50."

This is the thin end of the wedge. A seemingly rational reason to not count some votes. A lever that Republicans can use to tilt the election to their victory by selectively choosing which votes count.
With gerrymandering they choose their voters. By selectively choosing which Democratic votes count they can win the election.

[karynnj]

42. I in no way backed not counting every vote

Yet no race would be called for weeks after the election if you could not call a state when it is clear that someone has won. Consider that all the votes in California seem to take over a week to count. Should we leave CA uncalled in every Presidential election?

Here, I think we are better off knowing that the Republican's mischief did not leave us not knowing which candidate would have won a fair election.

I suspect that Colbert and, inadvertently, Bati Weiss, might have had more impact! What I saw comparing early voting and day of voting makes sense as the polls mostly had her comfortably ahead before that and him comfortably ahead afterward.

[bluestarone]

47. Thinking here, could the votes, IF all are counted get the total votes for each get close enough to go for a

RECOUNT? I'm just asking here. I'm not from Texas, so someone from there would know this.

[Easterncedar]

4. Rec x 1000

They so want us not to pay attention to this vote-stealing.

[Jersey Devil]

5. There would be a major problem for Repubs to do this in other metro areas

There are probably very few counties across the 50 states where a major city with a Dem majority is located and the county for that city is controlled by Republicans. The city of Dallas is somewhat liberal but the county is not. I think that is pretty unique. Someone convince me I am wrong about that.

[AldebTX]

18. County is Pretty evenly Split

I live in Dallas. The City is very democratic and the county government is pretty equally controlled.

This problem was caused by the republican party. THEY decided not to have joint primaries with the democrats as they have for the last decade. They decided to do this in just Dallas county and Williamson county (near Austin).

What added to the confusion is early voting did not require the voter to report to their precinct. They could vote in any polling site. The voter only had to vote in their precinct on election day.

Finally what has been under reported is many precincts in early voting had long lines for the democratic primary because the county was required to equally split the machines between democratic and republican voters even though in my area the democrats outnumbered the republicans 10 to 1. When we voted all 20 of the machines were full with a line out the door while on the republican side of the room there was a single voter and 19 empty machines.

In the past your ballot could be used in any machine. Just for this split primary were specific machines set aside.

[Texin]

27. You're right, Jersey. Dallas (the city) leans left, but the county is much more right wing.

[Chemical Bill]

43. I'll do my best.

Just curious, have you read The Conyers Report?

What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers... book by Gore Vidal https://share.google/glP7QnCgcg3UqCd3z

[pinkstarburst]

6. There were red counties that put these same rules into effect

Williamson county, which is north of Austin, but votes red, also did the same thing. It would massively suck if they did this in November. We would also need to work hard with Democrats to get the word out to vote EARLY and that if you do vote on election day, that you can only vote at your own polling place. I don't know about Dallas, but this was all over the news here, again and again, that people would have to vote at their correct polling locations, but people still were confused because it was a change. Democrats would need to spend considerable time and effort making sure to get the word out to vote EARLY to avoid lines, and make sure your vote is counted.

I agree it sucks.

Edited to add: Williamson county is actually where Talarico is from, so I would expect that county to skew for him.

[kcoates]

7. Voting early

I voted early still hour and half. Machines down, same number machines (4) for the 18 Republicans that voted that day as the 1300 Democrats where I voted. I could not vote at my assigned voting place, 2 blocks away early so drove 3 miles. It's a mess in Dallas county!

[TBF]

14. I had no issue down here in Brazoria -

we're still 60% red down here south of Houston so that's probably why everything runs smoothly. I voted the first week of early voting, later in week, and there were more than enough volunteers and machines. They took a while to release last night, I think they were being careful. Crockett and Paxton were our winners.

[oldmanlynn]

8. Dems should have known what the rules were

And we should have told everyone. I agree republicans should not be doing this but the guard has to be democrats alerting the voter

[gab13by13]

9. Yeah, that's the answer

Democrats should alert their voters to be prepared to wait in line 5 or 6 hours but when you get close to voting it may be too late.

Meanwhile, in red districts there is no long wait to vote.

[ashredux]

10. Paxton is just as corrupt as them come...

[SSJVegeta]

11. Absolutely right.

Talaricos voters were also disenfranchised btw

[gab13by13]

19. Isn't that the point?

Come November it will be all Talarico voters in that 3 hour line. Unless Dallas gets more voting machines nothing will change.

[SSJVegeta]

24. Exactly.

I do think Talaricos wide appeal will lead to some very substantial and significant policy and leadership changes for texas up and down the ballot.

[KS Toronado]

12. Is there any way to get Federal Judges involved for a do over?

[Quiet Em]

13. I don't believe so. Jasmine Crockett has conceded.

She is calling on the Democratic party to unite.

[TBF]

16. We will need it - no one won with that kind of an election day.

I wouldn't be surprised if Paxton was behind the last-minute changes. That guy is a criminal and the run to the general is going to be brutal if he wins the run-off.

[GiqueCee]

15. Well, the Terrible Trio...

... Abbott, Paxton, and Patrick are determined to maintain the dubious distinction of Anus of the Universe for Texas.
There are good people in Texas, but they are apparently out numbered by creatures of a lower order.

[lark]

17. Repug vote fuckery is what we are facing.

They've always pulled shenanigans with blue cities, closing precincts at the last minute, giving those areas old machines, guaranteed to break but yesterday they upped the ante. Dems were stupid for going along with the plot, they should have refused and taken the Repugs to court for last minute changes to long established voting patterns.

Dems are going to have to be lots more proactive!!!!

[gab13by13]

21. Kind of what I have been trying say,

Stop with the moderate v progressive fighting, we need the candidates who will fight the hardest. Watching the Texas primary I had a bad flashback to Bernie v Hillary, something we do not need.

[justsomeguy01]

34. But

Fortunately, The HAVA act (sic) of 2002 solved ALL these problems. s/
Thanks Democrats !

Yes, Republicans are always worse. But that doesn't mean Democrats get a pass on consistently failing to highlight problems and persistently remind/educate over prolonged periods of time. Instead, each campaign is completely separate from any persistent long term emphasis on systemic problems. It's almost as if Democratic leadership & funding supports the status quo.

[IzzaNuDay]

20. This is a midterm dress rehearsal

Now there’s a national blueprint how to suppress voting,
We need to clamp down on state election agencies to emphasize the shit that went down in TX must not happen in our states ever!

[gab13by13]

23. Yup, it's almost a given now,

if you are a Magat voter you won't have to wait to vote, if you are Democratic voter and live in a city you may have 4,5.6 hour lines to vote, and then a judge will declare extra time isn't needed.

Democrats need to be pushing for more voting machines in districts with heavy turnout. Waiting hours to vote is unacceptable.

[SheLiberal]

22. Early Voting is key

Texas still has 10 days of early voting and Democrats need to take advantage while we still have it. They have a harder time blocking voting during that time.

[TBF]

35. It really is, I noted above that I voted early in my county.

Lots of volunteers, plenty of machines. But I voted at like 2:00 in the afternoon - I'm an older mom with an open schedule. So, I aim to do things like voting or grocery shopping on weekday afternoons when many people are at work, and younger moms are home with napping kiddos.

But most people don't have that flexibility, and republicans take advantage of that by making it as difficult as they can for people who work.

[leftstreet]

36. +1 An Early Voting Strategy campaign

Awareness campaign of which states allow early voting

[superpatriotman]

25. Cheating is their only hope

We have to keep them in as many courts as possible. Bankrupt them.

[Clouds Passing]

28. Cheaters always gotta cheat. They are addicted to the cheating thrill.

[B.See]

48. Minority rule. They wouldn't be

in power, without cheating and gerrymandering.

[JustAnotherGen]

30. What you permit - you promote

This is why I do not believe that the Dem Nominee can win that Senate Race.

Now Texas has 8 months to refine and perfect their voter suppression tactics. It's what they do. They can't help themselves. It's their 'thing'.

[radical noodle]

31. We need to be ready

Apparently the websites the state or county provided to tell voters where to vote were messed up. Democrats are going to have to invest some $$ to make sure our voters know where they have to vote and exactly what they will need to take with them to vote.

[Fil1957]

32. We should definitely be concerned, but this might not be a totally bad thing. By doing this the Republicans have showed

their hand during a primary election when it won't affect the outcome. Now we know what to expect in November in Texas and other Republican controlled states. That gives us 8 months to prepare.

[justsomeguy01]

33. Sadly,

This is not the first time.

2 prominent examples : Ohio 2004 Presidential election - 300,000 provisional ballots never adjudicated nor tabulated. Florida 2000. May Ken Blackwell and Katherine Harris be forever shunned & scorned.

Our electoral system has long had many problems.
Focusing on "voter fraud" (quite rare) rather than electoral fraud & manipulation is just one of the many problems.
Access, poll location purposeful mis-allocation, biased voter roll purge techniques, voting when people can't get away from their 2 jobs (or afford the bus fare & transfers), lack of universal mail-in/drop-off ballots, the defacto 2 party system, the influence of money & media as propaganda tools, etc

Yes - Paxton & company are evil. But they are not doing anything new.

[Martin68]

38. Republicans are determined to limit the right to vote for Democratic voters. The only way to fight that trend is to

vote more Democrats into office.

[Wednesdays]

39. I'm including a warning

...on my pinned thread about the upcoming elections. That people need to take advantage of early voting, or to vote on Election Day as early in the day as possible.

[popsdenver]

40. It should be apparent to EVERYONE

by now, that this Group of Corrupt Republicans will do anything and everything to stay in power.
No matter how illegal or un-constitutional.......

It has been shown in many elections: 1980, 2000, 2004, and especially 2016, 2020, 2024..........

The Dem Party needs to establish a "Task Force" in every state, calling the Republicans out on every one of their attempts to throw the elections, and exposing those things out in public. As well as how to contradict their efforts, and work towards getting non-voters to voters...

[KPN]

41. Nevermind the gerrymandering put in place beforehand.

Republican Party = greed + white supremacy = stupidity + malevolence

[Chemical Bill]

44. It was reported on MSNOW...

that the online state website, which people could use to find their proper polling place, used outdated maps. Thus, the state kept voters in Dallas and Austin from voting properly.

Shocking, right?

[pat_k]

45. Not just Dems. Every person who cares about free and fair elections.

They must petition to get every vote counted -- ideally joint, or parallel petitions from Talarico, Crockett, DNC, Ellias Law Group, and other election protection orgs. Paxton can't be allowed to get away with disenfranchising voters without a fight

It is no longer about the outcome. It is about the vigorously defending the fundamental principle that EVERY VOTE COUNTS; EVERY VOTE MUST BE ACCURATELY COUNTED.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

46. Dems need to be ahead of their games in November.

It's clear the only thing Repubs can brag about is their expertise in cheating. Its their thing.