Thread: While some states have moved to expand mail-in voting, Texas plans to host its July 14 primary runoff elections in person, with polling sites, election workers and voting machines in place during the #COVID19 pandemic. bit.ly/3boq41g 
2/ Texas Republicans have worked to block the expansion of mail-in balloting in the state, leaving local election administrators to decipher how to safely have the July elections — and eventually the November general election. bit.ly/3boq41g
3/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other officials have not only shunned requests for Texans to choose to vote by mail, but they’ve gone to court to block lawsuits hoping to make the option easier. bit.ly/3boq41g
4/ To receive a mail-in ballot, Texas voters have to present an excuse for why they can't go to the polls, like disability, age or travel plans.
In the past, less than 10% of voters have generally sought the absentee ballots. bit.ly/3boq41g
In the past, less than 10% of voters have generally sought the absentee ballots. bit.ly/3boq41g
5/ In a case out of Travis County, a state district judge ruled that the risk of contracting the coronavirus at a polling place is enough to qualify voters to receive mail-in ballots under the state election code. bit.ly/3boq41g
6/ But that decision is headed for a drawn-out appeal process that election administrators say they can’t afford. bit.ly/3boq41g
7/ Election officials are considering retooling parking garages or shuttered banks with drive-thru lanes, or buying hundreds of thousands of pencils voters would take home after using the eraser end to mark their ballots on touch-screen voting machines. bit.ly/3boq41g
8/ The ongoing pandemic could pose safety challenges as voters must check in, sign poll books and stand in lines, as well as problems in gathering enough poll workers to staff their voting sites. bit.ly/3boq41g
9/ There’s a possibility a surge of mail-in voting could create a whole new sphere of logistical challenges, too. bit.ly/3boq41g
10/10 Administrators are looking to the July election and the sliver of turnout they’re expecting as a dry run for November, unsure of the future of the pandemic and which protective measures in place now will need to extend into the fall. bit.ly/3boq41g
