Texas not Ready for November Election
In some counties, previously advertised polling places were shuttered at the last minute for lack of workers, some fearing the pandemic or reluctant to risk exposure to voters who were not required to wear masks.
Runoff elections show Texas not quite ready for November's main event
"Runoff elections show Texas not quite ready for November's main event" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
As dress rehearsals go, Tuesday's Texas primary runoff elections weren't bad, but for some voters and poll workers, they revealed problems that need to be fixed before November's big show.
With much lower turnout than primary or general elections, the first in-person election day during the coronavirus pandemic saw voters reporting heavily sanitized polling places, an ample supply of gloves, finger cots or pencils to mark up their ballots, and socially distanced lines. With a tiny ballot in many places, some were in and out of polling places in minutes.
But some Texans who sought to vote by mail — and submitted their applications on time — indicated they never received their ballots. Some opted instead to vote in person. Others went uncounted. It’s unknown how many were affected.
Other voters sent in their mail-in ballots only to have them returned unopened. Some of those reached county elections offices after a second attempt, while others still appeared lost on election night. It’s also unknown how many were affected.
In some counties, previously advertised polling places were shuttered at the last minute for lack of workers, some fearing the pandemic or reluctant to risk exposure to voters who were not required to wear masks. Others walked off the job Tuesday morning after discovering some of their fellow poll workers wouldn’t be donning masks.
And throughout the night, the Texas secretary of state's portal for reporting election night returns was either broken or incorrect, first displaying garbled numbers in various races on the ballot and later showing discrepancies with county reports.
“I would say a number of the problems we saw in this election are red flags that, left unaddressed, could result in massive problems in November,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, in a statement.
On the eve of the election, Bexar County saw examples of the staffing issues local officials could face in November when counties are expected to run a higher number of voting sites. Late Monday night, the county announced it would not run three planned polling places on election day. Along with closures announced last week, that meant the county cut 12 of the 226 voting sites it had planned.
“Today, we had three teams decline to serve, because of the COVID-19 virus,” said elections administrator Jacque Callanen. “Please keep in mind that the average judge’s age is 72, so we certainly understand their concerns.”
By Tuesday morning, mask politics reached into election administration in Collin County, where at least two Democratic poll workers said they abandoned their duties after realizing some of the Republican poll workers at their sites didn’t intend to wear masks.
Longtime poll worker Allison St. Claire agreed to work the election as a “foot soldier” working to help keep elections safe and fair even though her kids “weren’t wild about” the idea because she’s considered high risk for complications that come with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
“I assured them we’d have PPE on and we’d be fine,” St. Claire said. “I’d been there a little less than four hours, and I just decided, you know, this is not worth the risk if they’re not going to mask up.”
At her assigned polling place inside a high school, Cynthia Riley’s shift lasted about 45 minutes after she decided she was unwilling to sit for 14 hours next to poll workers who weren’t wearing masks.
“I guess I just missed the memo that I needed to be concerned about other election workers,” Riley said. “I did understand we couldn't require the voters to wear a mask. … I didn’t realize I needed to be concerned about the people sitting on the other side of the plexiglass next to me."
For some first-time and regular mail-in voters, election day went by without their votes being counted.
Multiple voters continued to report they had not received the ballots they requested in a timely manner. Travis County realized that thousands of its voters had incorrectly filled out their applications and missed checking off the runoff election or indicating a party on the form they submitted — an issue that came to light because some voters who didn’t receive runoff ballots did get ballots for a special election to select their state senator. But it’s unclear how many voters in other counties were similarly tripped up by the form.
In Burnet County, Jennifer Hess and her mother — both considered high risk — applied for and received mail-in ballots, but the 59-year-old artist said she miscalculated when those ballots could be dropped in the mail based on her experience voting in Washington state, where she said she posted her ballot on election day.
In Texas, those postmarked votes are only counted if they’re received by 5 p.m. the day after the election. Voters who don’t get their absentee ballots in the mail on time can still drop them off in person, but they can only drop off their own ballot and have to show photo ID to do so.
“I don't think the USPS has ever been able to deliver mail that fast,” Hess wrote to The Texas Tribune. “And, the voting law prevents me from being able to deliver my mom's ballot for her, (which is sealed inside two envelopes). Our vote was not heard.”
In Dallas County, Michael Vendrell, a teleradiologist who works from home, faced a maddening situation getting his ballot to count. An experienced absentee voter, he left his absentee ballot for pickup at the end of June only to find it back in his mailbox days later — unopened and with a printed return label to himself that had been seemingly tacked on by the post office.
It was a conundrum the Dallas chapter of the League of Women Voters had heard from various other voters.
Vendrell scratched off the label, dropped it back in the mail and didn’t get it back. But his name never appeared on the county’s roster of voters who had cast early ballots by mail. When he called the elections office, a county worker indicated they were still receiving mail-in ballots and would call him when his ballot came in. But two weeks after it was picked up by a postal carrier, it had not shown up at the county elections office.
“The fact that I didn't have one vote ... get counted is not my issue,” Vendrell said. “My issue is we have a broken system.”
Among those voters almost left out of the election was Carmen Radley, a 38-year-old writer in Austin.
Radley first attempted to vote at an elementary school around midday on the last day of early voting but was met with what she described as a “COVID tunnel” — a line of an estimated 100 people wrapped around a school hallway on both sides.
“I was disoriented. I got in there and saw the line and thought about waiting and just decided this wasn’t ethical — to risk exposing myself and bring that to a hospital,” Radley said.
Her options were limited. Scheduled to have surgery the morning after the election, Radley was supposed to be self-isolating at home. On Tuesday afternoon, an Instagram post on curbside voting caught her attention, but she wasn’t sure how that worked.
After speaking with a reporter, Radley reached out to the Travis County clerk’s office about voting from her car. The process required an initial call to the clerk, a second call once she got to a polling location and a third call by the clerk to alert poll workers there about a curbside voter.
“Not sure how this is current process would be feasible for general election crowd,” Radley wrote in a text after casting her ballot. “Just so many hoops to jump through.”
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state's office and the League of Women Voters have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/15/texas-primary-runoff-elections-november/.
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Texas’ Primary Runoff Elections
Texans will be voting in the middle of a pandemic on Tuesday in a runoff election originally scheduled for May. Here’s what to watch for when the results come in.
6 things to watch in Texas’ primary runoff election
BY ALEX SAMUELS JULY 13, 2020 UPDATED: JULY 14, 2020
1. A race to face off against John Cornyn
Whoever wins the U.S. Senate Democratic primary runoff — a race between Air Force veteran MJ Hegar and and Dallas state Sen. Royce West — will face an uphill battle against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who will have a huge financial advantage in a traditionally red state. As tightening polls at the top of the state ticket have given some Texas Democrats hope for November, the race between Hegar and West has become contentious. With Hegar leading in the polls, West has amped up his questioning of Hegar’s party credentials and harnessed the energy over police misconduct to energize his campaign.
If Super Tuesday is any indication, West will perform well in his hometown of Dallas, so the question is whether Hegar can overcome that advantage in other parts of the state. Working in her favor are outside groups like EMILY’s List and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee— plus Hegar’s own campaign — that put up a combined $2 million to mount a massive television ad campaign on her behalf. The spending differential between the two campaigns is approximately $85 to $1.
2. If a Republican wins Tuesday, is that a win in November?
In two GOP congressional runoffs, the winners will be clear favorites to become their districts’ next members of congress. In District 17, which includes Waco, Bryan-College Station and rural parts of east central Texas, former U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions is seeking a return to Washington. He represented Dallas in the U.S. House until losing his seat in 2018 to Democrat Colin Allred. Now he has moved 100 miles south and faces local businesswoman Renee Swann, who has the support of retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan.
In the Texas Panhandle, two outspoken conservatives will vie for the nomination in one of the state’s reddest U.S. House districts. One of the candidates, Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, has the backing of President Donald Trump. He’ll square off against Josh Winegarner, a veteran agriculture expert and lobbyist. Trump had a near-perfect endorsement record in Texas on Super Tuesday. In several primaries, his nod either helped land a candidate above the runoff threshold — as in Jackson’s case — or cement the candidate’s name on the November ballot. (With Trump’s poll numbers suffering, however, it’s unclear if his endorsement will carry the shock and awe it did several months ago.) Another notable race for a safe GOP seat is the runoff for state House District 60, where Jon Francis, son-in-law of Farris and JoAnn Wilks, will face off against the Gov. Greg Abbott-backed Glenn Rogers. The Wilkses — brothers Farris and Dan and their extensive families — have doled out millions supporting candidates and causes that reflect their hardline political ideology anchored in faith, freedom and guns. In turn, Francis, who works at Wilks Development, a real estate development and investment company, has received the backing of hardline conservative leaders and groups, including Empower Texans and outgoing state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford.
3. Swing congressional seats
But in four other prominent congressional races, the parties are picking their candidates in what are expected to be competitive seats this fall. In another race that has gained Trump's attention, the president has tried to tip the scales in favor of Tony Gonzales in the 23rd Congressional District, a perennial swing seat represented by outgoing U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes. Gonzales will face the U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz-backed Raul Reyes for a chance to take on Gina Ortiz Jones, the Democratic nominee.
In Austin, Mike Siegel hopes to overtake Democratic rival Pritesh Gandhi for a chance to take on U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, later this year. Siegel won the Democratic nomination in 2018 and came within 5 percentage points of besting McCaul in a seat that has long been in Republicans’ grip. Another likely competitive race this November has quickly transformed into an expensive one: Kathaleen Wall, a prominent GOP activist-donor, has spent more than $8 million, most from her own pocket, for the nomination in the 22nd Congressional District near Houston. Wall is up against Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls, who won the most votes on Super Tuesday. The winner will face Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni in November in a race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land.
Farther north, March Democratic primary frontrunner Kim Olson faces rising momentum from former local school board member Candace Valenzuela in a bid to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell. The winner of the primary will face Republican Beth Van Duyne in the fall.
4. The wild card: Robert Morrow
For Republicans in Texas, Robert Morrow advancing to the GOP primary runoff for a seat on the State Board of Education was nothing short of frightening. Morrow is perhaps best known for wearing a jester’s hat and holding incendiary signs outside political events around Austin. He also has a history of making racist, sexist and profane statements. On the day before the runoff, his account was restricted on Twitter. Still, he finished first in the three-way primary on Super Tuesday to fill the seat of retiring member Ken Mercer. All Republicans on the board quickly teamed up to rally around his opponent, Lani Popp.
Republicans were puzzled and dismayed that Morrow, who doesn’t have much in terms of a formal campaign, endorsements or money, advanced as far as he did. Even Morrow himself has admitted that he thought his chances of winning the runoff were slim. But if he wins, Morrow, a self-described performance artist who was ousted after a brief stint as chair of the Travis County Republican Party, could have a voice on adopting school textbooks and determining the curriculum for millions of Texas children. Backing Popp, a Northside ISD speech language pathologist, are Abbott and the Travis County GOP, which issued an anti-endorsement of Morrow in January. The winner in the GOP runoff Tuesday will face Texas State University English professor Rebecca Bell-Metereau, a Democrat, in November’s general election.
5. Progressive Democrats challenge more moderate foes
Texas progressives are determined to have a political comeback after a good chunk of their candidates lost their primary races in March. In New York, voters were primed to welcome a new, diverse set of candidates after nearly a month of protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. In Texas, at least three progressive challengers have mounted aggressive campaigns against two moderate Democrats in the northern part of the state.
Siegel’s Austin congressional bid has received the endorsements of national progressive leaders like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. At the local level, José Garza, who has been endorsed by Julián Castro, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders, is challenging Travis County DA Margaret Moore in a nationally watched race. And state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, who has been in the Texas Senate for nearly three decades, faces a stiff challenge from Sara Stapleton-Barrera. Lucio, who has long bucked his party on votes concerning abortion, has enjoyed the support of Republican megadonors and has been aggressively campaigning on his Senate seniority over the past few weeks.
6. What will the election’s impact be on health in Texas?
Prominent state Democrats and civil rights activists have repeatedly called on the courts to expand voting by mail to all Texans because of health concerns. All of their attempts have failed. When he issued a statewide mask mandate, Abbott excluded churches and people voting in the primary runoff elections. That means it will be up to people heading inside crowded polling places to decide whether to wear a mask.
Previously, the Texas secretary of state issued “minimum recommended health protocols” for elections, including a suggestion that voters bring their own hand sanitizer to the polls and that they “may want to consider” voting curbside if they have symptoms of the new coronavirus. The guidelines come as Texans headed to the polls at high rates for the historically low-turnout runoffs. Through July 8, nearly 800,000 Texans had voted early — either in person or by mail; more than 482,000 people have voted in the Democratic Party runoffs, while more than 316,500 have participated in Republican runoff contests.
Still, in close races in Texas, the results may not be immediately known. Because of the number of voters casting mail-in ballots, the final results might not be tabulated for days. And in close race, it may not be clear who won by late Tuesday night or even Wednesday morning.
Disclosure: Texas State University and the Texas secretary of state have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.
6 things to watch in Texas’ primary runoff election was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.