Our Democracy hangs in the balance
Thomas Friedman perfectly summed up our choices when he appeared with Anderson Cooper on CNN this week: Al Gore took a bullet for this country when he accepted the ruling of the US Supreme Court in 2010. Donald Trump will put a bullet in this country.
He went on to say that if Texas goes for Biden it will break the GOP and force a restructuring.
Texas picked up significant wins at the state and federal level in the 2018 midterms; however, the GOP continues to wield its power while it still has it. The top three positions in the state are controlled by the far right: Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Attorney General Paxton (under indictment since 2015 and recently accused of bribery by 7 of the attorneys working under him). Some may argue that Abbott is not a part of the far right but I disagree. He has consistently bowed down to the agenda of Trump. He is running on a “Mr. Bipartisanship” agenda right now as he faces strong competition from Democrat M.J. Hegar. But 3 bipartisan deals on no-brainer topics like clearing the backlog on rape kits, does not a leader make. He has consistently spoke out against ending the Affordable Health Care Act, which would eliminate preexisting protections, regardless of what he and the other Republicans say.
Attorney General Paxton has filed or supported countless lawsuits aimed at suppressing the vote in Texas. Make no mistake that Governor Abbott supports those actions. The latest attack is aimed at Harris County, which is solidly blue, and the most populated county in Texas. The Harris County Elections Office, with the approval of the Texas Secretary of State, set up the option of drive-through voting. Approximately 127,000 voters have voted this way (Democrats and Republicans). These voters vote the exact same way they would vote inside. They just do it in their car under the supervision of an election official.
The first challenge to this procedure occurred in the Texas state courts and reached the Texas Supreme Court that issued its ruling one week ago upholding the drive through voting. In a last gasp this week, they are now attacking this in the GOP-friendly federal courts. Two lawsuits were filed on October 30, 2020, asking the courts to declare that drive-through voting is illegal in Texas, and to INVALIDATE all such votes already cast. With the election this Tuesday, 127,000 voters have no idea if their votes will be counted, whether they need to get to the polls again on Tuesday, or what they need to do. When people wonder if the Voting Rights Act of 1965 still matters, this is why it matters. Without the Shelby v. Holder decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, Texas would not be able to engage in these dirty tricks.
The first hearing will be held on this matter Monday, November 2, 2020, so we will keep you posted. For more details, check out this article:
We, the voters, are the only ones who can save ourselves. If you support our efforts to fight the GOP’s grip in Texas and get as many people to the polls as possible, please spread the word about our efforts, volunteer (we will be running in every election and are expanding across the country!), and donate to us at
