Texas Voting Rights

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What problems have you encountered while trying to vote in Texas? Share your story with us.

By Alexa Ura Updated: March 3, 2020

We want you to help us report on the challenges Texans face when trying to vote — and the possible ways to address them. Share your experiences with us. Full Story 

Latest coverage

• Appeals court allows Texas to withhold list of people it thinks are noncitizens and can’t vote

  By Trent Brown Updated: Sept. 30, 2022

  The appellate court reversed a previous ruling that found that Texas violated federal law by refusing to release the list. The suit was brought by five civil rights groups that sought to hold Texas accountable if it disenfranchised naturalized citizens. Full Story 

• Analysis: When 1 in 8 Texas mail ballots gets trashed, that’s vote suppression

  By Ross Ramsey March 18, 2022

  Nearly 23,000 Texans voted in this month’s party primaries and saw their mail ballots rejected by election officials, evidently an aftershock from new state laws that were supposed to make voting easier and more secure. Full Story 

• Vote-by-mail rejections are testing integrity of Texas Republicans’ voting law

  By Alexa Ura Jan. 24, 2022

  With less than a month left to vote by mail in the March primary election, hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots are being rejected as both Texas voters and local election officials decipher new ID requirements enacted by Republican lawmakers. Full Story 

• Analysis: Texas government is business-friendly, but not businesslike

  By Ross Ramsey Jan. 21, 2022

  Business people running elections might try to remove obstacles to make everything smooth and secure for voters. But a kink in the supply chain for voter registration forms in Texas highlights a venerable distinction: Government doesn't run like a business. Full Story 

• Analysis: The never-ending fight over voting in the U.S.

  By Ross Ramsey Jan. 17, 2022

  Some of the same voting debates underway when Martin Luther King Jr. was alive are still being debated right now in Texas and in Washington, D.C. Full Story 

• Restrictions on Texas voting could tighten under Republican bill advanced by Senate committee

  By Alexa Ura March 26, 2021

  Senate Bill 7 would make sweeping changes to Texas voting by limiting extended early voting hours, prohibiting drive-thru voting and requiring Texans to provide proof of disability to qualify for mail-in voting. Full Story 

• Analysis: A delay in drawing new maps this year could slow next year's elections

  By Ross Ramsey Feb. 10, 2021

  Delays in the delivery of court-approved political maps have disrupted past elections in Texas. And this year's pandemic-related delays in the U.S. census have raised the possibility of jumbled election plans in 2022. Full Story 

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• Analyzing 2020: Shock the vote

  By Ross Ramsey Dec. 31, 2020

  We've selected some columns from 2020 on voting and elections. Full Story 

• Analysis: When mapmaking Texas politicians are smiling and quiet, pay attention

  By Ross Ramsey Dec. 16, 2020

  Remaking the state’s political maps — redistricting — is important. One way to tell is that the lawmakers making the maps do their dead-level best to avoid saying anything that might signal their intent. Full Story 

• Analysis: Running government like a business — except for elections

  By Ross Ramsey Oct. 16, 2020

  You've heard that refrain — the one about running the government like a business — from dozens of candidates over the years. In the case of voting, businesses might be a good place for government officials to pick up some pointers. Full Story 

• Texas counties can offer only one drop-off ballot location, federal appeals court rules, upholding Gov. Greg Abbott’s order

  By Emma Platoff Updated: Oct. 13, 2020

  Civil rights groups and voting advocates had argued the restriction would disproportionately impact low-income voters, voters with disabilities, older voters and voters of color in Democratic counties. Full Story 

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• Harris County can't send mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters, Texas Supreme Court rules

  By Emma Platoff Oct. 7, 2020

  The elections administrator for the county, Texas' most populous and a critical stronghold for Democrats, has already sent the applications to voters 65 or over. The GOP Texas Supreme Court ruled he may not send them to the rest of the county's 2.4 million registered voters. Full Story 

• Analysis: Voting in Texas could be as easy as a trip to the grocery store

  By Ross Ramsey Sept. 3, 2020

  Some of the biggest private-sector companies in Texas adapted quickly to customer service during the pandemic. Unfortunately, they're not in charge of voting. Full Story 

• Texas runoff elections show stress of coronavirus pandemic on state’s voting systems

  By Alexa Ura July 13, 2020

  Disabled and older voters have encountered the most problems navigating mail-in balloting as they try to avoid going to polling places. In-person voting has been generally smooth so far in the low-turnout runoffs. Full Story 

• What problems did you encounter while trying to vote in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic?

  By Alexa Ura June 26, 2020

  We want you to help us report on the challenges Texans face when trying to vote and how the pandemic is affecting elections. Share your experiences with us. Full Story 

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• Texas Democrats sue the state to keep straight-ticket voting in 2020

  By Alexa Ura Updated: March 5, 2020

  In a federal lawsuit filed in Laredo, Democrats claim the move to end straight-ticket voting is unconstitutional and intentionally discriminates against Hispanic and black voters. Full Story 

• Texas lawmakers to hold hearing into excessive Super Tuesday voting lines

  By Alexa Ura March 5, 2020

  They also plan to address other issues at the hearing, including late-opening voting sites and insufficient voting equipment at polling places. Full Story 

• Round two of fight over online voter registration for Texas drivers reaches federal court

  By Alexa Ura Jan. 14, 2020

  The state won the first round on a technicality. Now disenfranchised voters are again asking that they be allowed to complete their voter registrations through the online driver's license portal. Full Story 

• National Democrats jump into new lawsuit over Texas voter registration requirements

  By Alexa Ura Jan. 6, 2020

  Sensing opportunity in 2020, the Texas Democratic Party and campaign arms for Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate are ramping up legal challenges to voting restrictions, this time arguing that the state is unconstitutionally rejecting voter registration applications with digital signatures. Full Story 

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• Texas Democrats are suing the state over its move to end temporary voting locations

  By Alexa Ura Updated: Oct. 31, 2019

  The lawsuit — filed with the Democratic campaign arms for the U.S. House and Senate — alleges that a change in state law that effectively ends the use of temporary or mobile early voting sites is unconstitutional because it discriminates against young voters. Full Story