Texas Republicans Are Terrified, And Their Actions Prove It

Fighting democracy with voter suppression, lawsuits, and shady tactics—Texas Republicans in crisis mode.

The Republican Party of Texas is shaking in its boots. For decades, they’ve relied on gerrymandered maps, voter suppression laws, and massive corporate donations to cling to power in a state that’s becoming less and less like the GOP stronghold they’ve painted it to be. Now, as demographic changes and progressive organizing ramp up, the GOP is pulling out all the stops to stop people from voting. From refusing to update election systems in Montgomery County to shutting down early voting sites on college campuses in Tarrant County, Republicans are terrified that if Texans actually vote, they’ll lose.

And that’s just the beginning. Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Bexar AND Travis counties for trying to register new voters. Meanwhile, in Dallas County, they’re trying to stop the houseless community from even having the chance to cast a ballot.

The message is clear: if you’re likely to vote blue, Republicans don’t want you voting at all. But this is Texas, and if history has taught us anything, it’s that when the people decide to make their voices heard, nothing can stop them.

“There’s something about living in a red state that makes you scrappy.”

- Texas House Representative James Talarico, 2022

What the heck are they doing now?

Last week, we discussed what happened in Bexar County and Paxton’s election meddling in South Texas. For reference:

• Ken Paxton’s War on Democracy: AG Sues Bexar County

• The Real Election Interference: Ken Paxton’s Tactics To Silence Texas Voters

Not only has Ken Paxton raided the homes of elderly LULAC volunteers, but he also launched a suit against Bexar County to stop them from registering voters. Since then, Paxton has also filed a lawsuit against Travis County for a similar program intended to register voters.

At this point, we all know that Texas is still red because too many people aren’t voting. This year, it seems like Democrats around the state have got the message and are crafting new ways to register voters. The actions of Bexar and Travis Counties should be celebrated and copied throughout the state, but here we are.

In somewhat related news, last week, Ken Paxton also sued Biden over the rule protecting privacy for women who get abortions in other states. So, if a woman leaves Texas to get an abortion, the state would like to go after them.

One wonders where he finds all the time to work so hard on his role as a supervillain.

This week, it’s all eyes on Tarrant County.

Last week, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare moved to remove the early voting locations on some college campuses. It didn’t pass because the Tarrant Court is 3(R) and 2(D), and one Republican was absent that day. So, the vote was 2-2.

Both Democrats had already scheduled (months ago) to be out of town at a Conference this week. Surprise, now Judge O’Hare has scheduled a special meeting to have the Commissioner’s Court vote again on the early voting locations. Since both Democrats are out of town, the court will be 3(R) 0(D) when they meet.

Read more about it here:

• 🚨🚨 O’Hare Moves To Remove Polling Sites From Tarrant Colleges On Thursday

It’s hard to say that it isn’t nefarious, but perhaps they thought it would be cost-saving to remove polling locations from places where young voters of color could be. 😬

Today, local leaders in Tarrant County held a press conference to discuss tomorrow’s meeting at the Commissioner’s Court. In attendance were:

• Representative Chris Turner

• Representative Terry Meza

• Representative Salman Bhojani

• Constable Robert Mcentee

• A proxy for Senator Royce West

• The Texas NAACP Youth and College President

• Tarrant County Young Democrats

• The Sunrise Movement

• The Social Work Council

• The UTA NAACP

• Save TX EF

• Justice Network of Tarrant County

Since this press conference was in my area, I live-streamed it on TikTok. It’s 40 minutes long, and the internet was dumb, but I’ll upload clips to social media later today.

A lot of people are pissed off at Tim O’Hare’s actions. Tomorrow is the scheduled surprise meeting, where dozens of citizens will likely show up and make their voices heard. I’ll update you on that meeting tomorrow unless it goes too late. Then, it will be Friday.

🚨This is all hands on deck. If you are in Tarrant County or DFW and can make it to this Commissioners Court at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 9/12, organizers need as many people as possible to testify against the removal of early voting locations on college campuses.

I wish I could tell you that was all Republicans were doing in the state of Texas, but you know there is always more.

Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court rejected to update their election system.

Anyone who works in IT or cybersecurity will tell you that many cybersecurity incidents occur because companies do not update their systems. A hacker will find a vulnerability in the software and exploit it. As soon as the software companies become aware of that vulnerability, they patch the program and send it to their users as an update. If the company, or in this case, Montgomery County, doesn’t patch/update the software, they may be leaving themselves open to vulnerabilities.

Why is the Mongomery County Commissioners Court refusing to update its election system? According to this article on Community Impact, several concerned citizens believed that updating the system would expose it to a security breach. The county’s IT manager and election administrator said the machines were secure and disconnected from the internet.

I haven’t seen the video yet, but Montgomery County is ruby red, so you can guaranteed there will be some tinfoil hats. If it is indeed disconnected from the internet, it’s probably okay.

Dallas County.

Right-wing accounts were freaking out yesterday after a video leaked from a Dallas County Elections Department training session. The video showed officials explaining how houseless individuals can be legally registered to vote, which these right-wing accounts twisted into claims of voter fraud. Unsurprisingly, they tried to push the narrative that this was a scheme to register illegal voters. Dallas County responded.

The GOP’s internal polling is probably looking grim.

They’re at level ten freak-out mode, pulling every dirty trick they can think of to stop people from voting. This is not the behavior of a confident party. They know the ground is shifting beneath their feet, and they’re scrambling to hang on.

We have 55 days left until the election.

Fucking vote.

• October 7: Last day to register to vote.

• October 21: First day to early vote.

• October 25: Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot.

• November 1: Last day to early vote.

• November 5: Election day!

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