The Alamo fell 184 years ago today.
In 1960, the movie, “The Alamo”, came out with John Wayne as Davy Crockett, Laurence Harvey as William Barrett Travis, Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie, and Richard Boone as Sam Houston. It was an epic production that historians hated for its inaccuracies. Who directed the flick?
Commentary thinks we are going to find out who is behind the fake HD 142 Dem candidate stuff. It is pretty clear that some folks were after State Rep. Harold Dutton, so let’s see where this leads. Maybe it’s the folks that don’t like Rep. Dutton’s bill on HISD and the TEA takeover. This is serious stuff. Someone might go to jail.
Commentary got this from Sonia on my take yesterday on the long lines at the polls:
Thank you for speaking the truth.
You are welcome!
The Chron E-Board had a take today on the lines and here is how they ended their take:
This is a massive failure of planning and execution, and something (Harris County Clerk Diane) Trautman can, and must, correct. First, she has to take responsibility and stop blaming Republicans. Some of Tuesday’s problems aren’t likely in November, when all voters use the same machines, but now is the time to address all the failures that are pushing wait times well beyond 30 minutes.
People have sacrificed so much for our right to vote. People should not have to suffer for hours in line to exercise it.
Here is the entire take:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Harris-County-voting-debacle-exposed-on-Super-15109072.php.
Here is the response from the County Clerk. She just put it out:
Over the past three days, I have heard from voters, community groups, media, and elected officials regarding concerns about long lines on Election Day. There were several factors at play that led to this event, but make no mistake – I believe very strongly that the right to vote is core to our democracy and the voting booth should be accessible for everyone.
Running an election in this political climate can truly be a balancing act, especially in a Texas primary where the political parties contract with my office to administer the election. The responsibility of the parties, is to come to an agreement on the polling locations and staffing of election workers. The responsibility of my office, is to provide equipment and to tabulate the results. We did the best with what we had and what we believed was fair and equitable by allocating equal amounts of equipment to each party. However, we take full responsibility for the long lines and wait times, and apologize to the voters and communities who were affected. We will reevaluate machine allocations and turnout projections based on both the data we have available and feedback from the community for the Primary Runoff Election.
In the 15 months I have been in office, my team and I have made a variety of changes to increase equity at the polls. Among these, the implementation of Countywide Polling, expanded Early Voting hours and locations, enhanced Election Judge training, and adding locations on college campuses like Texas Southern University.
It is clear that the history of marginalized communities being left behind in the voting process has led to polling deserts in areas of Harris County. I believe that we have made some strides, but we still have work left to do.
Moving forward, the voters of Harris County have my commitment to working together to make sure the November General Election is a success. There will be more than 50 Early Voting locations and approximately 750 Election Day polling locations.
I would again like to express my immense gratitude toward all election judges, poll workers, and voters who give their time and passion to making democracy come alive.
We can blame Republicans for long lines anticipated in November for taking away the straight ticket voting option.
State Rep. Anna Eastman got a big fat F rating from the NRA. Nothing on her opponent. Interesting.
Stace said this yesterday about the TXHD148PrimaryRunoff:
Congrats to Penny Morales Shaw on making the run-off for Texas House District 148. I think the primary showed that special elections suck and people are still not in voting mode when they happen. Plus, when you throw republinuts into the mix, it just sucks more. Hopefully, voters stay in voting mode for the run-off. Hopefully, voters will get more than the usual arguments of “I was way ahead of the pack” versus “59% of the people don’t want my opponent” and break down the issues that matter. There are differences in this one.
A few things on this. I certainly don’t want to get into a debate with Stace on his takes. Elections are elections. There are Special, Runoff, General, Primary and so on. It is up to the campaigns to engage the voters and get them to the polls. Most folks aren’t like Commentary and wake up every morning asking if there an election today.
In the November 5, 2019 General Election, the House District 148 Special Election was the first ballot item listed right after the State Constitutional Amendments. It was listed before the H-Town Mayor and municipal races. It was up to each campaign to make the case to voters and the voters made State Rep. Anna Eastman their top choice. We made the best case.
The top two candidates made the runoff and one happened to be a GOPer because everybody gets to run and vote in a Special Election, including GOPers. That’s in the Election Code. That’s the law.
Anna Eastman was duly and fairly elected as State Representative and has been sworn-in and is performing her State Representatives duties.
We are also in the Democratic Primary and now it is down to two candidates.
On the “59% of the people don’t want my opponent” deal. I don’t think I have ever used that argument because like in the HD 148 case, it could easily be countered with the opposite argument that 78% didn’t like the other. Ouch!
Commentary wishes we could break down the issues that matter. We will see. I don’t think so, though. When do they these days?
John Wayne of course directed “The Alamo.”
It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture but only won the Best Sound Oscar.
In case you are wondering, we are 4-5-1 in Spring Training games.
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