Monday, November 4, 2024
From the Houston Chronicle: Anxious about your ballot? Here's how to ensure your vote was counted in Texas
- Click here for it.
In an election filled with chatter alleging voter fraud and disenfranchisement, knowing if a ballot was officially counted or not can bring voters some much-needed peace of mind.
The Texas Secretary of State generally uploads early voting and election day turnout the day after polls close. The only information voters need to check the status of a ballot cast during the early voting period is the date and location where they voted.
On Texas’ early voting page, select the Nov. 5 General Election and navigate to the early voting turnout by date dropdown menu. Selecting a date will automatically download a list of all the voters who cast votes that day.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Ballot Tracker allows voters to track their mail-in ballots with just their name, date of birth, social security number and driver’s license number.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
For our look at the election
United States Constitution.
- Click Here.
United States Statutes.
- Title 52—Voting And Elections
Texas Statutes
- Texas Election Code.
Texas Secretary of State
- Welcome to Texas Elections.
Brazoria County
- Elections and Voter Registration.
Election related news from the Texas Tribune
- Texas tells U.S. Justice Department that federal election monitors aren’t allowed in polling places.
Texas’ top elections official told the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday its election monitors aren’t permitted in the state's polling places after the federal agency announced plans to dispatch monitors to eight counties on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
- Dan Patrick debunks claims about Texas voting machines switching votes.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly debunked claims that voting machines in the state are changing the selections voters make.
But Patrick, who is also a Republican, quickly corrected the national party leader on social media. The lieutenant governor said fewer than 10 people out of the nearly 7 million Texans who had already cast ballots across the state claimed that their selections were changed, but officials could not confirm a single instance of that happening.
A community college could transform the Lockhart area. Will voters approve it?
This November, the college is coming to voters in the Lockhart Independent School District with a proposition to begin paying into the Austin Community College taxing district. In exchange, residents would qualify for in-district tuition and trigger a long-term plan to build out college facilities in this rural stretch of Texas, which is positioning itself to tap into the economic boom flowing into the smaller communities nestled between Austin and San Antonio.
Community colleges have long played a crucial role in recovering economies. But in Lockhart, ACC’s potential expansion could serve as a case study of the role colleges can play in emerging economies as local leaders and community members eye the economic growth on the horizon.
That is, if they can convince enough of their neighbors to help pay for it.
In Dallas, ballot propositions could drastically change police and city government.
Three Dallas city charter amendments, buried at the very end of the upcoming November ballot, could drastically affect the city’s police department — and change how local government operates.
If passed, those amendments could force the city to hire hundreds more police officers and dictate where some excess revenue is spent, tie the city manager’s compensation to a community survey — and allow residents to sue the city for violating the charter while forcing the city to waive its governmental immunity.
Advocates say the propositions would place the power of accountability back in Dallas resident’s hands — while also increasing police staffing.
“Propositions S, T and U are a suite of ballot propositions … that came together because of Dallas citizens’ refusal to accept a lot of the bad headlines that we were seeing,” Pete Marocco, the executive director of Dallas HERO, the group responsible for the amendments, told KERA.
When will Texas election results come in? Here’s how the process unfolds.
Soon after polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, election officials begin to post early voting totals that will give Texans their first glimpse of results. But knowing the actual outcome of the election could take much longer, as election officials follow a long list of procedures to ensure your vote is counted accurately.
In large counties such as Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin, where election workers and officials will be coordinating the counting of Election Day ballots coming in from hundreds of voting locations, results are likely to be particularly slow. But it’s not for a lack of effort by election workers often working past midnight to meet the state’s 24-hour deadline.
A look at current court cases involving elections
These are pulled from Democracy Docket.
- Court Cases.
Typed of Cases:
- Election Administration.
- Felony Disenfranchisement.
- In-Person Voting.
- Post-Election Litigation.
- Redistricting Litigation.
- Registration.
- Vote by Mail.
Friday, November 1, 2024
More on Mussolini becoming dictator
As my 16 week classes know, this is the subject of their current written assignment.
How did Mussolini consolidate power in Italy?
Khan Academy does a great job explaining it.
Check these two videos out especially (there's more)
- Mussolini Becomes Prime Minister.
- Mussolini becomes absolute dictator (Il Duce).
The Acerbo Law and The Enabling Act of 1933
Two laws passed with threats of violence by the Fascists in Italy and the Nazis in Germany which gave them control over lawmaking in each nation, effectively eliminating checks and balances.
- The Acerbo Law.
The Acerbo Law was an Italian electoral law proposed by Baron Giacomo Acerbo and passed by the Italian Parliament in November 1923. The purpose of it was to give Mussolini's fascist party a majority of deputies. The law was used only in the 1924 general election, which was the last competitive election held in Italy until 1946.
. . . Following the transformation of Italy into a one-party State in 1926, the Acerbo Law became obsolete. In 1928, the Italian Parliament (now purged of any serious opposition) overwhelmingly passed a new electoral law, known as Rocco Law from his proponent Alfredo Rocco; the new Law turned Italian elections into a plebiscite on a single list of candidates selected by the Grand Council of Fascism among members of the National Fascist Party and affiliated organizations.
- The Enabling Act of 1933.
The Enabling Act of 1933 was a law that gave the German Cabinet – most importantly, the Chancellor – the power to make and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or Weimar President Paul von Hindenburg, leading to the rise of Nazi Germany. Critically, the Enabling Act allowed the Chancellor to bypass the system of checks and balances in the government.
. . . Under the Act, the government had acquired the authority to enact laws without either parliamentary consent or control. These laws could (with certain exceptions) even deviate from the Constitution. The Act effectively eliminated the Reichstag as an active player in German politics. While its existence was protected by the Enabling Act, for all intents and purposes it reduced the Reichstag to a mere stage for Hitler's speeches. It only met sporadically until the end of World War II, held no debates and enacted only a few laws. Within three months of the passage of the Enabling Act, all parties except the Nazi Party were banned or pressured into dissolving themselves, followed on 14 July by a law that made the Nazi Party the only legally permitted party in the country.