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Alexa Ura is an associate editor and reporter at The Texas Tribune. As the Tribune’s demographics reporter, she covers the intersection between politics and race with an emphasis on the state’s surging Hispanic population. She also covers voting rights issues for the Tribune, where she started as a reporting fellow in 2013. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Jayla Allen was her family’s third generation to attend Prairie View A&M University. She inherited a battle for voting rights in Waller County extending before her grandfather’s time at the Southeast Texas college. Full Story
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Texans of color, disproportionately devastated by death and unemployment during the last year, tend to live in neighborhoods with older homes, more vulnerable pipes and fewer food options. That's made it harder to withstand the cold temperatures and power outages. Full Story
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The Census Bureau now says it will get detailed results of the national population count to states by Sept. 30. That means Gov. Greg Abbott will almost certainly need to call lawmakers back for overtime in the fall to craft new Congressional and legislative districts. Full Story
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State Rep. Briscoe Cain was named chair of the House Elections Committee months after traveling to Pennsylvania to help the Trump campaign challenge the results of the 2020 election. Full Story
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The Census Bureau revealed Wednesday that the detailed results lawmakers need to reconfigure congressional and state legislative districts won’t be available until at least two months after the end of the regular 2021 legislative session. Full Story
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President Donald Trump's efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional representation are out with his administration. But Texas lawmakers still face delays in receiving census results needed to redraw the state's political maps. Full Story
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When the 2021 legislative session begins Tuesday, three of every five lawmakers in the state House and Senate will be white and just 27% of seats will be held by women. Full Story
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Joining several other U.S. senators, Cruz is calling for an emergency audit of election results in “disputed states,” despite no evidence of widespread election fraud. Full Story
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Harris County's plan to send applications for mail-in ballots to all its voters was cleared by an intermediate appeals court, but it remains on hold until the Texas Supreme Court can rule. Full Story
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The Supreme Court granted the Texas attorney general’s request to temporarily halt the county’s mailing of applications while the case is appealed. A separate order blocking the effort was set to end this week. Full Story
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Democrats successfully sued last month to remove from the ballot the Green Party nominees for U.S. Senate, Railroad Commission and the 21st Congressional District. Full Story
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State district judge R.K. Sandill rejected the state's request for a temporary injunction to bar Harris County from pursuing its mailing plan. Full Story
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The Texas Democratic Party had challenged the state's age limits on voting by mail, arguing that they violated the 26th Amendment's protections against voting restrictions that discriminate based on age. Full Story
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Trump's bid to exclude undocumented immigrants from population counts for redistricting could cost Texas three seats in Congress. Thursday's ruling could still be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story
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When local election officials throw out a mail-in ballot because they think a signature is suspect, the voter must have a meaningful chance to contest the decision, a federal judge ruled. Full Story
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Two civil rights groups and two Texas voters had asked a federal judge to require substantial changes to polling place procedures, including an across-the-board mask mandate and expanded curbside voting. Full Story
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What was once a lightly used and largely uncontroversial voting option in Texas, one even Republicans relied on, is now the crux of the latest fight over who gets to vote and, equally as crucial in a pandemic, who has access to safe voting. Full Story
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After rejecting efforts to spend state money on outreach to help ensure an accurate census count, Republican leaders are now dipping into federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for a last-minute ad campaign. Full Story
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The Texas secretary of state had threatened the legal action last week, but Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins indicated he would not drop his effort to send out absentee ballot applications to more than 2 million registered voters. Full Story
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A U.S. district judge found Texas is “legally obligated” to allow voters to simultaneously register to vote with every driver's license renewal or change-of-address application, and ordered the state to set up a “fully operable” online system by Sept. 23. Full Story
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