VOTING

With less than five weeks left in the primary election season, there is no shortage of political issues to debate. But most of the political conversation isn’t about the election.

A Harris County man fears new voting laws may prevent him from voting by absentee ballot for the first time in his lifetime.

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.

Fort Bend County Judge KP George held a press conference Friday afternoon to raise awareness of the new election process following the passing of Senate Bill 1 and address concerns over mail ballot application discrepancies.

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.

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.

The last day to register to vote is Jan. 31. The last day to apply for a ballot by mail is Feb. 18. Early voting runs from Feb. 14-25.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Jolie and Alexa about a potentially influential court case in Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to arrest migrants at the border and a high rejection rate among applicants seeking to vote by mail.

Here’s something Democrats and Republicans have in common: When lawmakers are deadlocked, leaders turn to the rulebooks, searching for angles and rule changes that would turn things their way.

Texas Republicans last year enacted new identification requirements for voting by mail as part of sweeping legislation that further restricted the state’s voting process and narrowed local control of elections.

Challenges to new Texas laws on voting, political districts and abortion are all pending in court, as is the state’s challenge to federal vaccine mandates. But until the courts rule, those laws remain in place — and they provide political fodder for the incumbents who support them.

The new year comes with a new election — and with familiar challenges to the way Texans vote and have their votes counted.

An initial review of four counties’ election results — launched after pressure from former President Donald Trump and touted by GOP leaders — showed few discrepancies between electronic and hand counts of ballots in a sample of voting precincts.

The secretary of state’s office says it is following the legal settlement agreement it entered in 2019 after botching its first review effort. But scores of citizens are still being marked for citizenship verification — and possible removal from the rolls.

There were 1,330 ballots cast during early voting that ended Tuesday for the McAllen District 1 commissioner special runoff election between attorney Javier Villalobos and businessman Timothy Wilkins. Early voting this time saw 500 more votes cast than during the early voting period in January’s three-person special election. During the runoff election, Wilkins spent $15,613 compared to Villalobos’ $4,015, according to eight-day campaign finance report filings with the city secretary’s office. The early voting period partially overlapped with the Texas primary election early voting period. District 1 voters can cast ballots Saturday, election day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Gonzalez Elementary School.

Dallas-area Latinos hoped their growing numbers would finally translate into political clout this year through the creation of a new congressional district anchored by their communities. Instead, their neighborhoods were splintered between numerous white-majority districts.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to hold a news conference.

They didn't make a majority of Texas voters happy on a single issue, but the Republican majority in the Legislature made most of their own voters happy — and then drew maps that minimize political threats to them in the November general election.

Republican incumbents enter their reelection campaigns well ahead of their Republican challengers and with most voters unacquainted with the Democratic challengers in the field, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas and the Texas Secretary of State over voting procedures it deems restrictive that have been put into place by Texas Senate Bill 1, which was signed into law in September 2021.

The elderly, voters with disabilities and voters with limited English proficiency risk disenfranchisement under sweeping legislation Texas Republicans pushed through earlier this year, the justice department argues in its legal challenge to Senate Bill 1.

Many Harris County voters are wondering how the county could see such a massive delay in results on Tuesday, even with a power glitch.

In a final push to secure federal voting rights legislation this year, congressional Democrats failed to secure the necessary votes to avoid a GOP filibuster on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is arguing that the new state House map violates the Texas Constitution. The lawsuit follows two legal challenges to the state’s new maps previously filed in federal court.

Unofficial results show that Texas voters approved eight amendments to the state Constitution.

The polls closed in Texas at 7 p.m. Below you can access results from across the state and the greater Houston area. After the statewide propositions, you’ll see a list of school district trustee and bond election results, followed by municipal election results.

After conservative complaints about the national results in the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have tried to anticipate everything that might play against them in 2022, right down to who’ll be at the helm.

In their latest push to lift state-level voting restrictions, Senate Democrats failed to secure the 60 votes required to break a filibuster on the Freedom to Vote Act.

With partisan fervor, Republicans drew new maps for Congress and the Legislature that dilute the power of voters of color. Now the lawsuits begin, as groups that feel marginalized battle for representation in the halls of power.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote this week on the Freedom to Vote Act, which would supersede some of Texas’ new elections law.

After a few last-minute alterations, the state's new congressional districts are drawn and await the scrutiny of federal courts. Already, one lawsuit has been filed claiming the new maps intentionally discriminate against Latino voters.

Get ready to make your voice heard as early voting begins Monday.

The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday.

The GOP is losing its hold on suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth as they grow more diverse. Two new districts show how far the party is reaching to entrench rural, white electoral power.

The bills reflect GOP efforts to further tighten voting laws, and pressure from former President Donald Trump on Texas Republicans to help advance his baseless election fraud claims. They are not expected to go far in the House.

The punishment for the crime was scheduled to go down in December, due to the passage of a sweeping bill that restricted the state’s voting process and narrowed local control of elections.

How to vote in Texas is a hot topic of conversation, especially since the 2020 election.

Sept. 28 is National Voter Registration Day. Check out our handy KPRC 2 National Voter Registration Day interactive map to find a location near you where you can register to vote on that day.

Sept. 28 is National Voter Registration Day. Check out our handy KPRC 2 National Voter Registration Day interactive map to find a location near you where you can register to vote on that day.

In a Texas Tribune Festival interview, the former member of Congress discussed the fight for voting rights, his takeaways from his last two runs for office and speculation about his becoming a candidate for governor.

Candidates for the 2022 elections are still popping up, but many of that election’s major issues are already being debated.

Lawmakers must redraw the state’s political maps to account for a decade’s worth of growth, but the process leaves enough room for political manipulation. Here’s how it’ll work.

State Sen. Bryan Hughes authored the six-week abortion ban and the elections bill and carried other conservative priorities that grabbed national attention.

SB 1 makes up Republicans’ third attempt to pass a far-reaching law that restricts how and when voters cast ballots. It takes particular aim at voting initiatives used in diverse, Democratic Harris County in the 2020 election.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed <a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/872/billtext/pdf/SB00001I.pdf#navpanes=0">Senate Bill 1</a>, which is what he also calls the “election integrity bill,” into law on Tuesday in Tyler, Texas.

The case ricocheted through federal courts for nearly seven years and over several elections, with federal judges ruling that Texas lawmakers discriminated against Hispanic and Black voters when crafting one of the nation’s strictest voter ID laws.

Harris County joined a coalition of community and advocacy groups filing lawsuits over Senate Bill 1, arguing the far-reaching rewrite of Texas voting laws violates the U.S. Constitution and numerous federal laws and will suppress voters.

The bill, approved by the Senate and never considered by the House, would have allowed state and local party chairs to file requests to launch audits, but Republicans say the legislation would not have spawned a debacle akin to the controversial review underway in Arizona.

Two Democratic state senators filed the federal suit arguing the Texas Constitution does not allow lawmakers to meet in special session to draw up state House and Senate districts. They’re asking the courts to do it instead.

Senate Bill 1 rewrites Texas election laws to further restrict the voting-by-mail process and outlaw local voting initiatives meant to widen access, namely those pushed by Harris County that were disproportionately used by voters of color.

Senate Bill 1 would set new rules for voting by mail, boost protections for partisan poll watchers and roll back local voting initiatives meant to make it easier to vote, namely those championed by Harris County that were disproportionately used by voters of color.

The method, in which voters are asked to rank candidates, has gained traction as a way to more accurately reflect the will of the majority. But detractors warn there are potential downsides, too.

Ranked choice voting is expected to delay the results; former cop Eric Adams and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang led in Democratic polls.

Early voting is already underway.

Early voting kicked off Tuesday for the city of San Juan runoff elections.

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., said he will push the Democratic Party to elect the House leadership in 2022 by ranked-choice voting, and that he plans to make this reform central to his agenda going forward.

Early voting begins for Georgia Senate runoff elections Early voting began Monday in Georgia for the two runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. Early voting ends on January 1, followed by Election Day on January 5. CBSN political reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns joins CBSN from Atlanta with the latest.

Voting records in Texas are continuing to be broken as early voting continues. ELECTION 2020: Harris, Dallas, Travis counties shatter first-day voting records in TexasHays County lies just south of Austin and includes San Marcos. Harris County Public Health/Texas Department of State Health ServicesAccording to the Texas Secretary of State's website, Hays County saw 71,945 voters in the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump. According to Wasserman, Collin, Comal, Denton and Williamson counties should also soon surpass their 2016 voter totals. Harris County is well on its way to surpassing 2016 totals.

Harris County hit a huge milestone this afternoon. At 2:47 p.m. Oct. 23, Harris County surpassed 1 million ballots and set an all-time early voting record, Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart reports. Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart reports that Harris County is on track to see 1 million early votes Friday afternoon, an all-time record. If the early voting pace continues during Election Day, Harris County will likely break its current record for the election with the highest participation; 1.34 million votes were cast in 2016. Harris County saw more than 100,000 votes each day during the first four days of early voting.

Shaquille O'Neal dines at popular Houston restaurant O'Neal enjoyed chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans at this local favorite.

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