General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Every Democrat should be concerned about what Republicans and Paxton did in Texas last night [View all]karynnj
(60,899 posts)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.