Republican voter suppression could backfire
On Thursday, the Texas Senate passed SB 7, a restrictive voting law that makes it harder to claim a disability on a mail ballot application, limits voting hours to between 7:00 a.m and 7:00 p.m, and bans voting sites in temporary structures like tents. In Georgia,...
Why are Texas Republicans obsessed with poll watchers?
On Thursday, the Texas House Elections Committee held its second hearing over House Bill 6, one of two “election integrity” bills being prioritized by Texas Republicans this session. If passed, HB 6 would prohibit election officials from distributing mail ballot...
Op-Ed: Call Them Out: Demand TX Corporations Support Voting Rights
Nothing good happens after 2 AM. That was on full display in the wee hours of Thursday morning as the Texas State Senate passed Senate Bill 7. Just a few hours later, the Texas House began consideration of House Bill 6. These bills would harken Texas back to the...
“We feel abandoned”: How landlord negligence forced Austin renters into squalid living conditions following February’s winter storm.
On Tuesday, February 16, Eduardo Canul lay in bed in his Northeast Austin apartment huddling for warmth. Like millions of Texans, the father of three had been without electricity for nearly 48 hours since Winter Storm Uri first struck, unleashing frigid temperatures...
Texas Senate passes restrictive voting bill
Early Thursday, the Texas Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 7, one of the two most restrictive voting rights bills prioritized by Republicans this session. The bill passed in an 18-13 vote after several hours of debate. The vote was held along party lines, with all...
No ruling in Texas yet on DACA
When it comes to DACA, the wait continues. At a status hearing on Tuesday, US District Judge Andrew Hanen did not rule on the legality of the Obama-era program (known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), but he did indicate he could issue a later ruling in...
John Ratcliffe makes big claims about UFOs
Last Monday, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe made some eye-opening claims regarding Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs. When asked on Fox News about an upcoming Pentagon report on the subject, Ratcliffe confirmed that the U.S. government had...
Shape-shifting GOP candidate continues Texas tradition of pretending to be cowboy
It took less than five months for Dan Rodimer, a former professional wrestler and failed Republican candidate in Nevada, to reinvent himself from a soft-spoken Lacoste polo-wearing family man to a “Texas tough” bull-riding cowboy. The spectacular transformation can...
Shape-shifting GOP candidate continues Texas tradition of pretending to be cowboy
It took less than five months for Dan Rodimer, a former professional wrestler and failed Republican candidate in Nevada, to reinvent himself from a soft-spoken Lacoste polo-wearing family man to a “Texas tough” bull-riding cowboy. The spectacular transformation can...
Musings: Moral Failure
Last night in New York City, a 65-year-old woman was assaulted on her walk to church and told that she didn’t belong in a neighborhood she’s had a presence in for decades. A nearby security guard offered no assistance, and not only failed to render aid, but closed the...
Seven anti-choice abortion bills advance in Texas Senate
On Monday, the Texas Senate advanced seven anti-choice bills, which are now likely headed to the Texas House. Enacting anti-abortion legislation is a major priority for Republicans in Texas, even though six weeks ago millions of Texans lost power and water due to a...
Texas still lags far behind other states in vaccine doses administered
Starting Monday, all Texans ages 16 and older will be eligible to sign up to receive COVID-19 vaccines. That’s obviously good news, but the state still has work to do when it comes to administering dosages allocated by the federal government. Texas currently...
Announcing: A new bi-weekly column from the Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas Signal is excited to announce a new collaboration with the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP). Every two weeks we will feature a new piece from TCRP exclusively on Texas Signal. These bi-weekly columns will focus on voting and election-related bills facing the...
At legislature, Texas leaders prioritize voter suppression over real needs of Texans
According to a recent study, Texas is the hardest place to vote in the entire country. Among other reasons, we have no online voter registration, only a fraction of Texans have the right to vote by mail, and 750 polling places were closed between 2013 and 2019,...
Republicans take political theater and fear-mongering to the border
Republicans in Texans have increasingly escalated their rhetoric blaming the Biden administration for an increase in people crossing the border into the United States. This weekend, the two Senators from Texas led a delegation to the border and fanned the flames even...