Video shows Texas GOP official seeking ‘army’ of volunteers to monitor polls in mostly Black and Hispanic Houston precincts Teo Armus, Derek Hawkins 21 hrs ago Leaked presentation from Harris County GOP calls for 'army' of poll watchers Then he pulls up a map of the area’s voting precincts and points to Houston’s dense, racially diverse urban core, saying the party specifically needed volunteers with “the confidence and courage to come down here,” adding, “this is where the fraud is occurring.” The official cites widespread vote fraud, which has not been documented in Texas, as driving the need for an “army” of poll watchers to monitor voters at every precinct in the county. Now the government accountability group Common Cause Texas — which published the footage Thursday — is raising the alarm that such an effort could instead serve to intimidate and suppress voters in metro Houston. “It’s very clear that we’re talking about recruiting people from the predominantly Anglo parts of town to go to Black and Brown neighborhoods,” Anthony Gutierrez, the group’s executive director, told The Washington Post. “This is a role that’s supposed to do nothing but stand at a poll site and observe,” he added. So “why is he suggesting someone needs to be ‘courageous’?” Gutierrez asked. © David J. Phillip/AP Peter McDonald casts his ballot on July 14 in Houston. (David J. Phillip/AP) In a statement to The Post, the Harris County Republican Party said Common Cause was “blatantly mischaracterizing a grassroots election worker recruitment video.” The party chair, Cindy Siegel, accused the group of trying “to bully and intimidate Republicans.” “The goal is to activate an army of volunteers for every precinct in Harris County,” Siegel said. “And to engage voters for the whole ballot, top to bottom, and ensure every legal vote is counted.” The video, recorded in early March, comes as the Texas Legislature considers a set of voting changes that would expand the role of poll watchers and limit other election officials’ ability to oversee those volunteers. Republicans have proposed a raft of such legislation in dozens of statehouses across the country, insisting they are necessary to shore up confidence in voting systems. But nationwide, as in Texas, critics say these voting bills would only tighten access to the ballot box, particularly for voters of color and other marginalized groups. After Trump tried to intervene in the 2020 vote, state Republicans are moving to take more control of elections The Texas state Senate last week approved Senate Bill 7, which has been deemed a priority by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and would prohibit drive-through voting and limit extended early voting hours. The bill would also allow poll watchers — volunteers who are appointed by local party officials — the sole power to film and photograph inside the state’s polling locations, for the purpose of sending footage to the Texas secretary of state’s office. Siegel denied that Republicans were trying to restrict voting through the legislation, saying the goal was to improve election security. The video documents a presentation by a GOP official in Harris County, seemingly to other members of the chapter. Common Cause Texas said it obtained a recording of the presentation from a concerned citizen who received a link to the video. In the video, the presenter lays out a plan to recruit and train more than 10,000 people to be spread across every voting precinct in Harris County — mostly as volunteer poll watchers, with others who can be nominated for paid roles selected by local elections administrators. He said he lives in a precinct in the northwestern part of Harris County, outside Houston city limits, where 7 in 10 households are Republican. Such an area would be a good place to recruit poll watchers, he added, but it would make for a “pretty safe precinct.” Instead, he said that “a lot of Republican folks have got to have the courage [to work outside the suburbs]. If we don’t do that, this fraud down in here is really going to continue.” He also specifically mentioned sending poll watchers to monitor voting at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, a Black congregation that once hosted Martin Luther King Jr. and has played a key role in Houston’s civil rights history. Gutierrez said the video highlights his concerns with the state Senate’s voting bill. He said the “brigade” of poll watchers would effectively be empowered to intimidate the most vulnerable voters. For instance, he said, an untrained, skeptical poll watcher might see someone accompanying a relative who is blind, or a relative who doesn’t speak English, to the ballot box and then interpret the situation as an example of voter fraud and begin filming or taking photos. The bill lacks any teeth to ensure that footage in fact goes to the Texas secretary of state, he said, and so it could then end up online, where trolls could attack someone merely for voting, or trying to help someone else do the same, in a perfectly legal way. The video in question can be seen here: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/po...ing-Houston-minority-16089177.php?jwsource=cl
I really like your last paragraph. I’ve thought of it in terms like this before in my head. You can add mar1juana legalization as well. Eventually it will be legal federally after the fight against old white men. Which will also be watered down and made worse in different states revolving around revenues and profits typically linked to corporations. The same ones that have fought for decades on not decriminalizing it while people have suffered.
Except that we've seen them oppose freedom of speech on a variety of things. Many Republican state legislatures have pushed laws limiting the ability to protests and clamp down on whistle blower laws. Following Citizen's United money is now equal to speech and we see McConnell threatening companies for how they spend money in regard to political speech. On property rights many have been arguing that things like IP protections should be undercut so that Theodore Geissel's estate can't control publication of Dr. Suess titles. Or that Warner Bros has to including Pepe LePew in the new Space Jam. There are several threads on Clutchfans arguing from the Right owners of IP are censoring when they decide what to do with their property that the Right considers because of "woke" reasons. Again, they don't know what they are fighting for anymore.
The New Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene is a first-term member of Congress who has been removed from committees. Aside from voting -- and occasionally engaging in pointless time-wasting measures -- she doesn't have many official duties at all. Quite simply: It's impossible for her to have less power within the halls of Congress. And yet, Greene, a Republican who represents Georgia's 14th district, raised an eye-popping $3.2 million in the first three months of 2021 from what she said was more than 100,000 donors nationwide. "Republican voters -- a group distinct from Conservatism Inc. -- no longer have any concrete outcomes that they want from government. "What they have, instead, is a lifestyle brand. "And if you want to move up the ladder within a brand network, you don't do it by governing or making policy. "You do it by getting attention." Yes. To all of that. That's winning to Greene. She doesn't care about being in party leadership. Or passing legislation. Or even serving on committees. She cares about building her brand via social media trolling and TV appearances on home-field networks. That's her path to influence and power within the GOP. Sadly, given the dismal current state of the Republican Party, it'll probably work. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/08/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-fundraising/index.html I look at what this party is becoming since Trump, and I see a waste of taxpayer dollars for people basically doing nothing but stirring up hate against any policies Biden proposes, while doing nothing constructive to fix what is broken. I won't even consider voting for anyone from this party the way it has become.
The Republican Party is down the path of doom. Their future is sliding into an abyss they won't be able to crawl out of. They can lie all they want, but the majority knows that they are full of it, and that they don't propose a damn thing that really helps people. They are the exact opposite of making our lives better.
This encapsulates the GOP perfectly. No ideas or desire to govern just improve their brand by clickbait hate mongering.
I've heard from several Republicans that "Democrats / Left want to fundamentally change America." This appears to be their new catchphrase.
Anything for the grift. Catch phrases, hate spewing, propaganda, and lies. Nothing productive, except donations into their pockets. You have some real winners in this group. The song Another Brick in the Wall comes to mind, with the lyrics..."We don't need no education." Grifting radicals, unfit to serve. What a waste of taxpayer dollars.
My gosh... the senior senator of Texas must have so little to do, and so little to complain about Joe Biden, that is complains that Biden doesn't... tweet enough?
What I find funny about this is that Cornyn is actually complaining that Biden doesn't tweet much and his tweets are conventional. Wasn't Cornyn one of those "I don't read the Twitter" when asked about Trump's tweets?
