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2 Nov, 8 tweets, 2 min read
Many reporters, including me, attempting to listen to federal court hearing on whether to invalidate 127,000 drive-thru votes in Harris County TX

Press line was disconnected with hearing in progress & no reporters let in courtroom. This is huge case & we can't even cover it
I am on the call now. Stand by for updates
I missed beginning of hearing b/c we couldn't listen in but one reporter who got in notes conservative judge seems skeptical of throwing votes out
Lawyer for Harris County: drive-thru voting "was all done with consultation" with county officials & state. "None of this was kept secret"

Indeed, TX secretary of state signed off on plan & right-wing plaintiffs only challenged when 1000s had already voted
TX lawyer says he & wife used drive-thru voting on first day of early voting b/c his wife is 35 weeks pregnant and it was safest way to vote in a pandemic

Those challenging drive-thru voting want to "replace the will of the people with a few people who want to throw out votes”
This is worrisome: Judge Hanen is raising prospect that drive-thru votes cast in Harris County on Election Day could be invalidated at later date if he finds drive-thru voting illegal
GOP challenger admits real reason they're challenging Harris County drive-thru voting is because "9 of 10 locations located in Democratic strongholds"
Judge is announcing his opinion from bench in 15 min

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More from @AriBerman

Ari Berman Profile picture
3 Nov
I'll be covering voting issues across the country today & posting updates on this thread. If you have any problems voting, please let me know & contact @866OURVOTE. Don't let anyone prevent you from exercising your fundamental right to vote
Biggest issue I've heard about so far is voting machines down in Spalding County GA, south of Atlanta. Election officials sending 2,000 provisional ballots to each precinct so everyone can vote on paper ballot. Everyone in line by 7 will be able to vote wsbtv.com/news/politics/…
.@KristenClarkeJD says Spalding County, Morgan County & Gwinnett County Georgia have voting machines malfunctioning. Voters using paper ballots but there is concern they could run out of ballots. Working with election officials to resolve
Read 5 tweets
Ari Berman Profile picture
2 Nov
Breaking: federal judge rules GOP plaintiffs challenging drive-thru voting in Harris County don't have standing to sue, refuses to invalidate 127,000 votes already cast
The outrageous voter suppression efforts by Texas Republicans are backfiring by motivating voters to turn out in record numbers to defend their voting rights, especially in Harris County. That’s one of biggest stories from Texas in 2020 motherjones.com/2020-elections…
Harris County officials like @CGHollins & @LinaHidalgoTX made huge efforts to make it easier to vote:

-3x early voting locations

-drive-through voting

-24/7 voting

-arenas as polling places

And guess what? There was record turnout as a result motherjones.com/2020-elections…
Read 4 tweets
Ari Berman Profile picture
30 Oct
FACTS about counting votes:

-Ballots are counted after Election Day in every single state

-No state certifies a winner on Election night

-In 18 states ballots can arrive after Election Day per state law

-In 29 states military ballots can be received after Election Day
Part II of FACTS about vote counting:

-The president has no control over how votes are counted

-Election results are certified at the state & local level

-The president has no authority to prematurely declare himself the winner of the election
Repeat after me: counting all the votes is not stealing the election
Read 6 tweets
Ari Berman Profile picture
26 Oct
Minutes before Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed Supreme Court rules 5-3 to throw out ballots in Wisconsin that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after. 80,000 ballots were counted in primary that arrived after Election Day but were postmarked by then
Kavanaugh cites Bush v. Gore to justify making it harder to vote in Wisconsin

Kavanaugh, Roberts & Barrett all served on George W. Bush legal team in Florida 2000 recount & worked to make sure only GOP votes counted
Insane rhetoric from Kavanaugh decrying "chaos & suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election"

This comes on some night Trump tweets winner of election must be announced Nov 3
Read 5 tweets
Ari Berman Profile picture
23 Oct
I spend lots of time writing about all ways voting is being suppressed. So here’s a hopeful story: we could be seeing a backlash to GOP suppression in states like TX & GA, with voters turning out in record numbers to defend their right to vote from attack motherjones.com/2020-elections…
More than 1 million votes have already been cast in Harris County TX, exceeding 2016 early voting total with a week of early voting left

@LinaHidalgoTX told me Greg Abbott's plan closing mail dropoff sites backfired on GOP

"It was so transparently about suppression,” she said.
Harris Co clerk @CGHollins deserves lot of credit for making voting easier:

-3x early voting locations

-drive-through voting

-24/7 voting

-arenas as polling places

"Voters are responding by saying, ‘I’ll show you,’ & coming out in record numbers to have their voices heard.”
Read 4 tweets
Ari Berman Profile picture
11 Oct
New: Amy Coney Barrett defended Bush-Cheney during 2000 Florida recount when Republicans illegally altered 1000s of mail ballot request forms for GOP voters

If GOP lost cases Gore would’ve been president

Now she could do Bush v Gore 2.0 for Trump motherjones.com/politics/2020/…
Amy Coney Barrett, John Roberts & Brett Kavanaugh all served on George W. Bush‘s legal team during Florida 2000 recount & worked to make sure only GOP votes counted, increasing likelihood 6-3 SCOTUS will throw out enough Dem ballots to keep Trump in power
In Florida 2000 GOP officials illegally fixed errors on absentee ballot requests so GOP voters got mail ballots. Barrett defended GOP. Those mail ballots were difference for George W Bush

This year Trump campaign sued to throw out 150,000 absentee ballot requests in Iowa
Read 4 tweets

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