Texas election officials may continue rejecting mail-in ballots if they decide the signature on the ballot can't be verified, without notifying voters until after the election that their ballot wasn't counted, an appeals court ruled Monday. bit.ly/2T9EFpW
Before mail-in ballots are counted, a committee of local election officials reviews them to ensure that a voter’s endorsement on the flap of a ballot envelope matches the signature that voter used on their application to vote by mail.
They can also compare it to signatures on file with the county clerk or voter registrar that were made within the last six years.
The state election code does not establish any standards for signature review, which is conducted by local election officials who seldom have training in signature verification.
Voters must be notified within 10 days after the election that their ballot was rejected, but state election law does not require affording them an opportunity to challenge the rejection, the appeals court ruling noted.
Here's more information on voting by mail in Texas, including what could cause a ballot to be rejected: bit.ly/3dEeBMU
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gave his first interview about recent criminal allegations to a website that has been identified as part of a pay-for-play network. bit.ly/37rYp0q
Ian Prior, who promoted the story for the Ken Paxton campaign, told The Texas Tribune that the campaign did not pay the outlet to run the story. bit.ly/37rYp0q
The @nytimes reported this week that the website belongs to a national network of some 1,300 pay-for-play outlets that publish on-demand coverage for Republican political campaigns and public relations firms. nyti.ms/3kuEq4Z
3/6 Two key Texas counties have seen a rush of voters coming to the polls during early voting.
Harris County has gotten attention for long lines. But Denton County has had the largest increase in early voting over 2016 so far. texastribune.org/2020/10/17/har…
Texas State University is "pausing" its employee diversity training following a recent executive order by President Trump that bans some forms of anti-racism programming among federal grant recipients. bit.ly/316AYWk
Other major Texas universities like the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Tech are evaluating the order to ensure policies are compliant, but those schools have not yet suspended any training sessions. bit.ly/316AYWk
Trump’s executive order, signed on Sept. 22, requires federal contractors and agencies that receive federal grants to discontinue training that contains “any form of race or sex stereotyping” and other "divisive concepts." bit.ly/316AYWk
1/ A new Texas rule will allow social workers to turn away clients who are LGBTQ or have a disability. bit.ly/2IrXcLW
2/ The Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously Monday to change a section of its code of conduct so it no longer prohibits social workers from turning away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. bit.ly/2IrXcLW
3/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office recommended the change, board members said, because the code’s nondiscrimination protections went beyond protections laid out in the state law that governs how and when the state may discipline social workers. bit.ly/2IrXcLW
1/ Early voting is up in parts of Texas. That has some people excited.
But it’s far too early to tell whether that trend will continue through Election Day or what it means for Democrats’ hopes to flip the state. bit.ly/2SVMsYs
2/ Here’s what we know: In the state’s largest 10 counties, home to 57% of registered voters in Texas, we found that at least 425,028 ballots were cast in-person on Tuesday.
At least 224,122 were sent in by mail.
That’s 151k more votes cast than in 2016 in those same counties.
3/ From 2016 to 2020, there was a slight increase in first-day turnout in the 10 biggest counties — 5.82% to 6.71%. bit.ly/2SVMsYs
1/ 56% of Texas registered voters say the state economy is worse than it was a year ago, according to our latest poll
And 67% said the national economy is in worse shape than it was a year ago. bit.ly/2H6DzZ4
2/ Texas’ unemployment rate in August was 6.8% — a sign the state's economy has improved from the spring months, but economists said the data underscores a large and steady number of jobless Texans over the summer months. bit.ly/2GYxP45
3/ Federal lawmakers and President Donald Trump have failed for months to reach a deal on a new coronavirus relief bill after the CARES Act expired in July, leaving hundreds of Texans and businesses to scrape by with no end in sight. bit.ly/2T1mB0V