On Tuesday, Election Day, I volunteered to answer phones at the Harris Co. (Houston area) Democratic Headquarters. I have served as a volunteer for the HCDP on Monday afternoons for the past two years. I have answered phones during several elections, including the most recent one, and it is clear that the same problems seem to crop up each time.
Voting is not easy in Harris County if one is not relatively affluent and informed.
Challenges continue to plague populations of an electorate that is poorly informed, misinformed, uninformed or confused by convoluted language on ballots or by the lack of knowledge about polling locations. Not to mention the blatant incompetence exhibited by the County Clerk’s office this time. This office happens to be one of the most crucially important in the state. The role of the County Clerk in terms of a county’s tax assessment decisions and the voter registrar’s arm of the position has more influence over our daily lives than the election of a President. This is a fact and it is especially true in red states.
All politics is local.
Texas enacted one of the strictest voter ID laws in the U.S. This 2011 Jim Crow discriminatory law disenfranchised over 600,000 registered voters in 2014. A federal judge in Corpus Christi ruled the law unconstitutional, stating that it included a poll tax. At least a poll tax in terms of the fees and expenses one has to incur in order to obtain an official Texas ID.
Of course this unconstitutional law languishes in the federal court system, thanks to a Texas appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, these same 600,000 disenfranchised voters will likely be robbed of their right to vote again in November. I hope this is not true. But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is one of the most conservative, divisive and controversial courts in the U.S. judicial system.
In one case, the 5th Circuit cleared the way for a new Texas voter ID law to take effect just days before early voting begins, even though a lower court judge had found, after a long trial, that the law amounted to a poll tax and unconstitutional suppression of voting, particularly by minorities. (The Supreme Court upheld the circuit court's ruling on Saturday.)
One would think the GOP would be satisfied with this massive voter suppression effort called the Texas Voter ID Law. But no, of course not. There is never a shortage of cynical schemes in which to erect numerous obstacles to prevent certain voters from the polls. And these “certain” voters are the usual suspects, i.e. minorities, the impoverished, students and people who move frequently or who are homeless. Many in these categories tend to vote for Democrats.
What are the more subtle and not so subtle acts of voter suppression?
Approximately one week prior to the election I had received calls from seniors who said they did not receive their mail in ballots. They had sent their applications for mail in ballots to the Harris County Clerk’s office weeks ago. But ballots never arrived in their mail boxes.
By this time it was too late for one to receive a ballot in the mail, complete, and return it by the deadline. So I gave our callers the locations of early voting polls. Some of our seniors are unable to leave their homes without assistance. Unfortunately I am sure more than a few of these elderly voters could not make it to the polls.
No one knows why our older citizens, including some Republicans, did not receive their ballots. And because they applied for ballots but none were forthcoming, the seniors were understandably confused. Can I vote? Will the voter roll indicate that I had requested a mail in ballot? Will I get in trouble for trying to vote? Will they tell me I can’t vote because I already voted? But I didn’t vote.
According to one report, 1000 seniors did not receive mail in ballots. This could lead us to assume the County Clerk’s Election Division is run by a willfully incompetent voter registrar who should be in another line of work. Oh, and the Tax Assessor, Mike Sullivan, is the culprit who shot down on line voter registration efforts in the state. Heaven help the Texas GOP if all Democrats in Harris Co. could easily register and vote. This blue trending city (Houston) continues to trend blue despite the desperate and unconscionable gerrymandering that took place.
From what I learned before I left the office on Tuesday, the County would allow for the seniors who requested mail in ballots but did not receive them, to vote in person.
How abundantly generous.
During primary elections, at least in Harris Co., polling locations are combined. And primary polling locations may be different from long-term and expected polling places that are assigned during general elections.
Therefore, if voters are not informed some will go to their normal general election polls. Fortunately, some voters will call the HCDP office to find out where they should vote. But many don’t call and simply give up and go home or to work. Many precinct chairs will post signs at general election locations, reminding voters that the primary poll is down the road or on the other end of the neighborhood. But signs have a funny way of disappearing.
We cannot blame all uninformed voters for their lack of knowledge about polling places. Some work two and three jobs. Not all have computers or smart phones. If one does not subscribe to the Houston Chronicle, a major newspaper in the state, it is because one cannot afford a subscription. Or perhaps one that is too busy dealing with an economically deprived life has little energy for anything outside of basic survival.
Local TV news stations are not known for their voter outreach efforts.
It is therefore imperative for the County Party to serve as resource for our poorest members.
Let us not forget about the Houston area League of Women Voters. For it does everything it can to publish and distribute a Voters Guide during every election, a treasure trove of information.
So, on Tuesday I received a call from a very irritated Democratic voter. According to him, the Republicans had eight voting machines while the Democrats had only four at his polling location. He said voters left the line designated for Democrats because it was too long. I put him on hold and sought the advice of the Party’s lawyer. Long story short, according to the Secretary of State’s Office the number of voting machines at an election poll is determined by turnout in the prior election. The Party’s lawyer also said there were more Republican than Democratic precincts assigned to this particular poll.
Though I explained all of this to our unhappy voter he snorted “It’s not fair.” “I agree with you” I replied. We both smelled the same rat. The Texas GOP goal is consistently the same. Make voting hard, confusing, and as discouraging as possible for non-Republicans.
I later learned from an email from the Democratic County Chair that the County delivered more machines to polls that lacked sufficient resources. But how many Democratic voters left before the reinforcements arrived?
About a half an hour later I received a call from a furious voter. He fumed that the Election Judge at XYZ poll said it was a Republican poll. I checked with a HCDP elections staff member and of course the poll was intended to serve both parties. The Party had to contact the County Clerk’s Office to resolve this issue. I wonder how many Democratic voters left without having voted at all?
There were a lot of problems for Democrats on Election Day but as a volunteer I am not privy to all information about the County Clerk’s unintended or intended voter suppression efforts. But I do know that our Party’s voters had problems on Tuesday. The bottom line, and the GOP knows this far too well, one inconvenient or confusing incident after another adds up to suppress voter turnout.
We also have to consider the importance of a Ted Cruz win in Texas. Former Governor Rick Perry, current Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick threw their support and influence behind Ted Cruz’s Presidential candidacy. For Ted could not be usurped by the New Yorker Donald Trump who knows Cruz is a first class dissembler. Ted did win Texas but it was a squeaker.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's Lone Star victory Tuesday night may have been the narrowest home state victory in modern GOP election history, according to an analysis from the University of Minnesota.
Cruz won Texas with 43.8 percent of the vote — below the 50 percent threshold that experts said he'd need to claim a resounding victory. Still, it was a victory, and it helped cement Cruz's second place standing the GOP field.
In the UMN's Smart Politics blog, however, political scientist Eric Ostermeier called Cruz's Texas win "decidedly shy of impressive."
A small minority of primary Tea Party voters voted for Ted Cruz in 2012.
We know that fear is driving the GOP voter suppression efforts. The Party must know that some of its base has caught on to its decades old bait and switch shenanigans. Maybe some have figured out that they have been had. Republican politicians will always blow the dog whistles to win the support of voters they have no intention of serving. It could be that Trump’s supporters get it that their Party’s politicians work on behalf of its donor class. Trump claims he has no rich and powerful donors. Whether he does or does not, his base supporters believe he is more likely to stick up for them. Which is likely a fairy tale, as in the case of any typical baiter, switcher and dissembler.
Despite the fact that demographics are rapidly changing here, the state is hamstrung by gerrymandering and a Jim Crow Voter ID law that robs 600,000 registered voters of their right to vote. I keep repeating this because the travesty deserves repeating. It is absolutely incumbent upon the Supreme Court to overturn this disgraceful Jim Crow law.
Which makes it so very important for those of us who can vote, because we have the necessary (for now) ID, to vote in every election. We must vote on behalf of our brothers and sisters who have been thrown under the bus.
On a personal note and for disclosure purposes, my vote last week is likely the last one I cast in Texas. My husband and I are selling our home in Houston and we are heading back East (I am originally from NYC) to Delaware in early to mid summer. Our son and most of my family live in the East.
My husband’s family lives in France and Italy.
As much as I look forward to going back East and though I have railed against this state in the years I’ve lived in it, there are so many wonderful people, places and things that I will miss in Houston and in Texas.
But I am still here and I will continue to make noise and raise hell until the day the moving van pulls up in front of our house. It’s been a long and wild ride that I will always cherish and will never forget. I’ll write about it after I leave.
Adios for now.
Update March 7, 2:30 p.m. CST
I am back at the HCDP today. My shift is normally from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For the record, I just answered a call from a voter who called to report numerous problems at poll in Galena Park on Tuesday. I also spoke to an unhappy voter who wanted to vent about his changed (gerrymandered) precinct and how hard it is to find voting information. He had gone to his former precinct poll only to find out he had to go somewhere else to vote. He hung in there, went to another poll and voted. I am glad he was determined instead of discouraged. The gentleman told me he thinks the system is rigged against Democrats.
I agree with him and urged him to vote in November when the County Clerk’ Tax Assessor and Voter Registrar candidacies are on the ballot.
Also, with regard to the incidents at the polls, the HCDP staff and volunteers do file incident reports for the Party’s attorney. These incidents help when the Party files lawsuits.
