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• After a rocky start, Gov. Greg Abbott promises to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations across Texas

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 11, 2021

  Twenty-eight coronavirus vaccination hubs will receive most of the state's next shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, with 158,825 doses shipping to providers able to manage large-scale efforts as more doses arrive in the state. Full Story 

• Four years ago, Texas Republicans were the most likely to use mail-in voting. Here’s how that flipped in the last election.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 11, 2021

  Absentee ballots, which only certain groups of Texans are eligible to use, have traditionally been a tool utilized by the GOP, and in 2016, higher percentages of Republican voters cast absentee ballots than did Democratic voters. Full Story 

• More than two dozen of Texas’ rural hospitals haven’t received any COVID-19 vaccines

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Jan. 8, 2021

  Those lucky enough to be near another provider with shots available are relying on neighborly generosity — encouraged but not mandated by the state — to innoculate front-line workers while they wait. Full Story 

• About 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses will be shipped next week to Texas, mostly for large “vaccination hubs”

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 7, 2021

  Some doses will also go to smaller providers, while hubs will set up registration phone numbers and websites to streamline distribution, according to the state health agency. Full Story 

• More vaccines on the way to Texas this week as the state's COVID-19 situation worsens

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 4, 2021

  COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas are at record levels, while just under half of the vaccine doses shipped to Texans have been given out, according to state numbers. Full Story 

• “We are fighting back”: Texas health care workers receiving vaccines look forward to the end of a tragic year

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff Dec. 24, 2020

  The arrival of the vaccine signaled an emergence from what countless health care workers called the darkest time in their careers. Full Story 

• Some Texans are hesitant to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Here's how health officials are countering skepticism.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 23, 2020

  “Vaccine hesitancy” or “vaccine skepticism” remains a huge challenge for health authorities trying to overcome mistrust by communities of color, the anti-vaxxer crowd and general dubiousness on the part of a traumatized nation. Full Story 

• When health workers at a Rio Grande Valley hospital declined the COVID-19 vaccine, a state senator and law enforcement lined up

  by Vianna Davila, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune Updated: Dec. 21, 2020

  So many workers at an Edinburg hospital declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that it offered doses to other medical workers in the region. The vaccine ended up going to nonmedical personnel as well. Full Story 

• Texas’ second round of COVID-19 vaccines earmarked for smaller hospitals and long-term care facility residents

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Dec. 18, 2020

  By the end of the month, the state expects to distribute 1.4 million vaccine doses to hospitals, long-term care facilities and a host of other locations. Full Story 

• Texas officials expect it to take months for coronavirus vaccine to be available to anyone who wants it

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Dec. 17, 2020

  Gov. Greg Abbott said he has not yet gotten the vaccine but will “at the appropriate time." Full Story 

• As COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Texas' hard-hit border areas, experts warn vaccinated people could still spread virus

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Julián Aguilar Dec. 15, 2020

  Heavily Hispanic border regions have seen some of the highest death tolls from the virus. Health experts say people shouldn't let their guard down as vaccinations begin. Full Story 

• Vaccinations are underway for Texas’ front-line health care workers: “I can’t believe this is happening”

  by Aria Jones and Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Dec. 14, 2020

  Four Texas sites received a total of 19,500 doses of the vaccine on Monday, the first phase of a rollout that will put a quarter-million doses into 110 Texas facilities this week — with more on the way next week. Full Story 

• COVID-19 vaccine doses are arriving in Texas, giving weary health care workers hope after months of peril

  by Karen Brooks Harper, Aria Jones, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Sami Sparber Dec. 14, 2020

  From the Rio Grande Valley to the Texas Panhandle and from the Gulf Coast to West Texas, some 110 medical facilities are slated to receive the first allocation of 1.4 million doses earmarked for Texas. Full Story 

• Crystal Mason, jailed for illegal voting after casting provisional ballot, seeks to have conviction overturned

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 1, 2020

  The request for review by the state’s highest criminal court was filed by Mason’s attorneys as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the national ACLU and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Full Story 

• GOP lawmakers heading into the legislative session take aim at voter fraud, despite no evidence of widespread problem

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 1, 2020

  Nearly a dozen pieces of legislation, all of them filed by Republicans, target mail-in balloting, illegal voting and misbehaving elections officials — inspired by events and talking points from the previous election cycle. Full Story 

• Texas Republicans have blocked voter access legislation for years. The pandemic may change that.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 27, 2020

  More than 60 election-related bills have been filed in the House and Senate in the three weeks since the election. About half of them are aimed at increasing voter access, which lawmakers said became a more urgent issue during the pandemic. Full Story 

• Republicans kept their grip on Texas government in 2020. In 2021, they'll be able to tighten it.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Dec. 1, 2020

  Because Republicans in the state House and Senate held onto their 20-year majority, they are positioned to further entrench their power until the next redistricting rolls around in 2031. Full Story 

• Despite record turnout, some Texas voters were still shut out

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 6, 2020

  Texas remains a difficult state in which to vote, and there are bountiful stories of voters who tried to cast ballots and couldn't. But neither Democrats nor Republicans are questioning the integrity of the results. Full Story 

• Texas voters turn out under sunny skies as pandemic and political divisions loom large over Election Day

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Nov. 3, 2020

  Clear skies across Texas ushered voters to the polls for a historic Election Day on Tuesday, even as a political storm hovers at the close of an anxious, divisive presidential election unlike any other. Full Story 

• Miles to go before they vote: Without absentee ballots, displaced Texans cross the country to vote at home

  by Karen Brooks Harper Oct. 30, 2020

  Worried because their absentee ballots never arrived, two American University students rented a Volkswagen Golf and drove 30 hours across half a dozen states to cast their votes in Texas this week. Full Story