In Texas, Republicans fight v****g by mail expansion while encouraging their v**ers to use it
Sep 12, 2020 22:01:55 #
Standing in front of a blue curtain adorned with the seal of the Republican Party of Texas, Allen West offered up what he deemed an "instructional video" for Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins.
It had been a week since Hollins had announced his office would send an application for a mail-in b****t to every registered v**er in the county — all 2.4 million of them. Since then, his plans had sparked alarm among top state Republicans, leading to two lawsuits meant to halt it before he could get the applications out.
Purporting to detail the difference between what Hollins, a Democrat, wanted to pursue and "what is really lawful," West — who recently took the reins of the Texas GOP — inaccurately claimed Democrats were pursuing a "wanton mailing out of b****ts."
"There's a wrong way and there's a right way," West said, touting the GOP's approach of contacting v**ers and reminding them to send in their applications.
In reality, Hollins was merely sending applications for a mail-in b****t — something West's own party has done for years. In recent weeks, v**ers across the state have been finding in their mailboxes unsolicited applications to request absentee b****ts. Some of those mailers — depicting images of President Donald Trump — were from the Republican Party of Texas that West chairs.
As states across the country scramble to make v****g safer in a p******c, Texas is in the small minority of those requiring v**ers who want to cast their b****ts by mail to present an excuse beyond the risk of contracting the c****av***s at polling places. But the ongoing attempts by the White House to sow doubt over the reliability of v****g by mail has left Texas v**ers in a blur of cognitive dissonance. Local officials are being reprimanded by the state's Republican leadership for attempting to proactively send applications for mail-in b****ts, while the people doing the scolding are still urging their v**ers to fill them out.
What was once a lightly used and largely uncontroversial v****g option in Texas — one even Republicans relied on — is now the crux of the latest fight over who gets to v**e and, equally as crucial in a p******c, who has access to safe v****g.
"Ensuring vulnerable populations can v**e by mail during a p******c is designed to protect human life & access to the v**e," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said on Twitter this week after the county's mailing plan was temporarily blocked by the Texas Supreme Court. "Those who stand in the way—using v**er suppression as an e*******l strategy—are throwing a wrench in democracy. We'll keep fighting."
Alexa Ura
Salon September 12, 2020, 5:55 AM MDT
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-republicans-fight-v****g-mail-115501518.html
It had been a week since Hollins had announced his office would send an application for a mail-in b****t to every registered v**er in the county — all 2.4 million of them. Since then, his plans had sparked alarm among top state Republicans, leading to two lawsuits meant to halt it before he could get the applications out.
Purporting to detail the difference between what Hollins, a Democrat, wanted to pursue and "what is really lawful," West — who recently took the reins of the Texas GOP — inaccurately claimed Democrats were pursuing a "wanton mailing out of b****ts."
"There's a wrong way and there's a right way," West said, touting the GOP's approach of contacting v**ers and reminding them to send in their applications.
In reality, Hollins was merely sending applications for a mail-in b****t — something West's own party has done for years. In recent weeks, v**ers across the state have been finding in their mailboxes unsolicited applications to request absentee b****ts. Some of those mailers — depicting images of President Donald Trump — were from the Republican Party of Texas that West chairs.
As states across the country scramble to make v****g safer in a p******c, Texas is in the small minority of those requiring v**ers who want to cast their b****ts by mail to present an excuse beyond the risk of contracting the c****av***s at polling places. But the ongoing attempts by the White House to sow doubt over the reliability of v****g by mail has left Texas v**ers in a blur of cognitive dissonance. Local officials are being reprimanded by the state's Republican leadership for attempting to proactively send applications for mail-in b****ts, while the people doing the scolding are still urging their v**ers to fill them out.
What was once a lightly used and largely uncontroversial v****g option in Texas — one even Republicans relied on — is now the crux of the latest fight over who gets to v**e and, equally as crucial in a p******c, who has access to safe v****g.
"Ensuring vulnerable populations can v**e by mail during a p******c is designed to protect human life & access to the v**e," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said on Twitter this week after the county's mailing plan was temporarily blocked by the Texas Supreme Court. "Those who stand in the way—using v**er suppression as an e*******l strategy—are throwing a wrench in democracy. We'll keep fighting."
Alexa Ura
Salon September 12, 2020, 5:55 AM MDT
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-republicans-fight-v****g-mail-115501518.html
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