1/ El Paso is currently following two national trends:

1. Voter turnout is on pace to surpass 2016’s numbers.

2. And reported cases of COVID-19 are surging to unprecedented numbers.
bit.ly/3mw2dC1
2/ Coronavirus cases have been rising in the city over the past month as city and county officials have announced increased restrictions to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
bit.ly/2TzOFJ7
3/ Last week a UT-Austin report predicted that the El Paso area could run out of hospital beds within weeks.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced the deployment of medical personnel and equipment to help combat the record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases.bit.ly/3muP7Vx
4/ On Sunday authorities implemented a curfew and asked residents to stay home for the next two weeks to stop the spread of the virus.

The announcement came 9 days ahead of Election Day as El Paso follows a statewide trend of record early voting turnout. bit.ly/3mqAjHm
5/ The latest restrictions have voting groups watching their effect on turnout and what, if any, last-minute pushes they can make to ensure voters continue to go to the polls.

“They are doing a shutdown [in El Paso] for nonessentials. Voting is essential.”bit.ly/3mw2dC1
6/ Both state parties are using the new restrictions as ammunition to use against their opponents.

Democrats blamed the restrictions on Republicans downplaying the virus, and Republican’s claimed the restrictions would suppress turnout.
bit.ly/3mw2dC1
7/7 Monday’s voter turnout in El Paso County was down roughly 14% from Friday’s.

But that is a smaller decline than the statewide drop of about 21.5% over the same period.
bit.ly/3mw2dC1

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More from @TexasTribune

30 Oct
Breaking: Texas has already surpassed its 2016 total votes cast with one day of early voting and #ElectionDay still to go.

The state has added 1.8 million more registered voters since 2016. bit.ly/2HNJsLD
Through Thursday, 9,009,850 have voted so far this year. That amounts to 53% of registered voters.

In 2016, 8,969,226 Texans cast a ballot in the presidential race, and overall percentage turnout was 59.4%
By the time all the #ElectionDay votes and mail-in ballots are counted, Texas will likely hit record-breaking turnout levels this election, surpassing 60% of registered voters for the first time since the early 1990s.
Read 5 tweets
30 Oct
1/ Texas has seen a head-spinning barrage of voting-related lawsuits in recent months, and the state — particularly Harris County — has become the epicenter of a voting rights battle.

Here is what voters need to know.
2/ In Harris County, Republican leaders and activists have churned out lawsuits, unsubstantiated specters of voter fraud and official state orders in their bid to halt expanded voting access during the pandemic. bit.ly/2J9b7XB
3/ Control of the White House depends on Republican domination of Texas and, in turn, containing a voting surge in Harris County — the nation's third most populous county, which is only solidifying as a Democratic stronghold. bit.ly/3kAegh2
Read 15 tweets
27 Oct
Breaking: Texas social workers will no longer be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans and people with disabilities.

A state board voted Tuesday to undo a rule change that had drawn backlash from lawmakers and advocates. bit.ly/2G9nB0s
2/ In early October, the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously to change a section of its code of conduct, which would allow social workers to turn away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
bit.ly/35GMhpx
3/ The nondiscrimination policy change recommended by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office drew immediate criticism.

The Republican-led Texas Legislature has long opposed expanding nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ Texans in various areas of state law.
Read 5 tweets
23 Oct
New: Lawmakers and advocates are urging Texas regulators to reverse their decision to let social workers turn away clients who are LGBTQ or have a disability. bit.ly/35tdaxd
The social worker regulatory board unanimously voted last week to revise a section of its code of conduct that lays out when a social worker can refuse to serve someone.
The code will no longer prohibit social workers from discriminating on the basis of a disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Read 5 tweets
23 Oct
New: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has sidelined four of the seven senior aides who weeks ago told law enforcement they believed Paxton had committed bribery and abuse of office, firing two and placing two more on leave. bit.ly/37Biph4
The aides, who represented a large share of the agency’s most senior staff, alerted law enforcement and then agency human resources that they believed Paxton was using the power of his office to serve a political donor.
Paxton has dismissed the whistleblowers as “rogue employees” wielding “false allegations.”
Read 5 tweets
21 Oct
🚨 Texas voting PSA 🚨

Oct. 23 is the deadline for counties to *receive* completed mail-in ballot applications, not the deadline for applications to be requested.

If you still need to apply to vote by mail, here are your safest options as that deadline approaches ⬇️ Photo of a paper application for a ballot by mail
Applications can't be dropped off in person now that early voting has begun.

They still must be received by the county by Oct. 23.

It's unlikely that applications requested online will make it to Texans through the mail in time for them to make it back to counties by Oct. 23.
So you can print the application off directly here instead: webservices.sos.state.tx.us/forms/5-15f.pdf
Read 6 tweets

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