Republican Voting Restriction Strategy Already Bearing Fruit In Texas - Rachel Maddow - MSNBC

[Rhiannon12866]

Rachel Maddow looks at how the Republican scheme to use bogus claims of voter fraud as justification for new voting restrictions is working according to plan and already resulting in the rejection of hundreds of ballot applications. Aired on 01/17/2022.

[TexasTowelie]

1. Six more weeks until the primaries are held.

There isn't much doubt that Beto will win be the nominee for governor, but the race for lieutenant governor could go to almost any of the candidates. The race for attorney general will also be interesting to see if it splits along ethnic lines since there is a white candidate, a Hispanic female candidate, and a Black candidate.

Some of the congressional races could also be interesting since there are two Justice Democrats running in separate House districts.

Due to redistricting and the changes in the election laws that affect early voting I am 100% comfortable declaring that I'm not going to make any predictions besides Beto being the nominee for governor.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Well, I don't know all the players except for Beto and you know I'm a big fan

He was terrific when he ran for president, but Texas certainly needs him a lot more. Do you think he can make enough progress in turning things around? Does he choose his Lieutenant Governor, or is that a separate election - I know that they do that differently in different states. It's got to be frustrating since I remember what happened in state government when the Democrats left the state. The changes in election laws, perpetrated by the Republicans, have got to make things difficult for any Democratic candidate, but I remember how close Beto came to Ted Cruz, so I'm betting on him!

[TexasTowelie]

4. The lieutenant governor candidates run independently from the gubernatorial candidates.

I'm hoping that Beto can hold on fairly well in the general election. There is some frustration with Abbott even among independents and there just might be enough sentiment for change to give Beto a chance.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Not to mention that Beto's already worked so hard at GOTV

And I believe that Lieutenant Governor is a separate election here in New York, too. Back in the day, when I didn't follow politics, I'd just look through League of Women Voters information that my mother brought home to choose among candidates I hadn't heard about. There was one time that I didn't like either of the main candidates running for Lieutenant Governor, so I kept reading till I found one that sounded better - she was running from the Marijuana Reform Party!

These days, I usually vote a straight ticket, but I have voted third party for local offices when there's only a Republican running.

[TexasTowelie]

6. I've been in the predicament where I've voted for a third-party candidate

when the only other choice was a Republican.

I actually received a piece of mail from the Republican state senator in the area this week. It only required about one minute for the mailer to end up in the trash can.

[Slammer]

2. TX

Not sure how it work in Texas. But if the people who made the applications so far are notified that their applications were rejected, they'd still have time to fix the problem and reapply.

Travis County is heavily blue. I'd have to imagine that they'd at least attempt to contact the applicants to tell them what they did wrong and how to put it right.

Of course as we get closer to the primaries, there'll be less and less time to make the attempt. And the election workers will get more and more busy doing other things.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. Have these regulations already passed a court challenge?

Do the election offices that turn the applications down, have a requirement to explain to the person who signed the application so they know why it was turned down?