Articles tagged: voter suppression
With a Special Session on Voting Restrictions Looming, Texas Dems Push for Federal Protections
Voting rights advocates say Texas Republicans’ underhanded effort to ram through new voter suppression measures highlights the need to restore federal voting rights legislation.
Nearly every legislative session, Texas Republicans cite the myth of widespread, election-swinging voter fraud to try to make voting harder, scarier, and more c...Read More
The Latino Vote And Its Legacy
For Latinos, casting a ballot means overcoming a history of struggle against exclusion and voter suppression.
This story was originally published by palabra. Editor’s Note: At the start of 2020, palabra. posted a landmark essay by Michelle García that explored the st...Read More
The Long Tail of Voter Suppression
As the growing number of Black and Latinx voters threaten the GOP’s stranglehold on power, attempts to limit safe voting options during the pandemic reveal a deeper sickness in Texas politics.
This article was published in partnership with The Nation. Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cu...Read More
An ‘Election Meltdown’ in Texas
How voter suppression, poor planning, incendiary rhetoric, and fear of coronavirus could erode public confidence in elections.
Primary voters in some parts of Texas waited in punishingly long lines to cast a ballot last Tuesday. A surge in Democratic voter turnout overwhelmed many polli...Read More
Democratic Voters Surge in Texas Primary, Waiting in Punishingly Long Lines as Officials Struggle to Keep Up
Grueling wait times stretched hours past closing time at polling locations across Texas. One voter in Houston waited nearly seven hours to cast his ballot.
One of the biggest and most disturbing storylines to emerge on Super Tuesday wasn’t about any top-of-the-ticket race, but rather the shockingly long wait time...Read More
1,500 Nueces County Voters Were Wrongly Sent Letters Demanding Proof of ID
A big mistake in the lead up to primary voting underscores the anxiety around misinformation on elections and barriers to voting.
Early this month, Nueces County resident Linda White received a surprising piece of mail: Form 5-22a, a “notice to voter who must provide identification.” T...Read More
Texas Leads in Polling Place Closures Since 2013
750 polling places in Texas have been shuttered since Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court decision that released the state from federal oversight in changing its voter laws and practices.
If you’ve been on the voting rights tour bus in Texas, what a ride it’s been—especially since 2013. Prior to then, the state was beholden to the Voting Ri...Read More
The Casualties of Texas’ War on Voter Fraud
Crystal Mason’s vote didn’t count. Will her prosecution scare away others whose votes would?
In early February 2017, Crystal Mason’s probation officer asked her to come to the federal building in downtown Fort Worth. The meeting was unusual—maybe a ...Read More
The Death of Mobile Polling Places Could Shrink Early Voting in Texas
Thanks to a new state law, rural and elderly voters are among those who could lose their early polling places next election.
The Texas Legislature never seems to pass up a chance to make voting harder, scarier, or more confusing. True to form, Texas was one of several states this year...Read More