May 31, 2023

Huh. So the currently-non-acting AG for the great state of Texas is claiming that thanks to his filing 12 lawsuits to prevent the mailing out of 2.5 million mail ballots, Biden would have won the state.

It is difficult to assess exactly how much damage Republicans do to elections behind the scenes, but lawsuits like this explain why Texas always seems to be on the verge of turning blue, and falls back at the last minute.

It seems to me that, in a democracy, we should err on the side of voters, not political parties. But then, what do I know? I'm not a Republican. Via the Texas Tribune:

The elections administrator of the state’s most populous county, an important Democratic stronghold, may not send out applications for mail-in ballots to all 2.4 million of the county’s registered voters, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a rebuke of County Clerk Chris Hollins, whose office has worked to expand voting options beyond what is available in a typical year.

The state of Texas sued in August to block Hollins from mailing out the applications, arguing that doing so exceeded his legal authority and would cause confusion among voters, some of whom are not eligible for absentee ballots under Texas’ unusually strict criteria. But Hollins argued that the planned mailers gave clear guidance on eligibility and that encouraging absentee ballots where appropriate was integral to holding a safe election during the pandemic. Lower courts with Democratic judges took Harris County’s side, ruling that Hollins could send applications to voters who would otherwise have to request them or find them online.

But the state’s highest civil court ruled Wednesday that Hollins may not put the applications in the mail. The documents can be accessed online and are often distributed by political campaigns, parties and other private organizations. But for a government official to proactively send them oversteps his authority, the court ruled.

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