By now you’ve seen reports of massive voter suppression in Harris County, Texas after it took voters hours and hours to cast a ballot.
For example:
4 hour lines in Democratic & minority communities in Texas a preview of voter suppression GOP planning for November. Dems need to keep eyes on prize and develop strategy for combatting this no matter who the nominee is
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 4, 2020
And:
No one should have to wait in line for hours to vote in this country.
This is voter suppression. Period.
Texas has closed 750 polling stations in communities of color since 2012 when the Voting Rights Act was gutted by the Supreme Court. #AndStillIVote https://t.co/z8SJ0NTY9Y
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) March 4, 2020
And:
Long lines in Texas are the intended outcome of the TX GOP’s aggressive voter suppression. The path to fixing it starts with flipping the Texas state house. We only need to win 9 seats to get it done.
— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) March 4, 2020
If it’s voter suppression, then shouldn’t we blame the Dem who is in charge of the county elections? Why is SHE suppressing the Dem vote?
@CNNPolitics Hey guys, a Democrat is the Chief Election officer in Houston, Harris County. This line of discussion about GOP voter suppression is wrong, at least as it relates to tonight.
— Greg Groogan (@GrooganFox26) March 4, 2020
Meet Diane Trautman, Harris County Clerk, who is somehow blaming Republicans for HER mess.
She says she proposed a joint election and that would’ve allowed voters to use any machine:
My office proposed a joint primary election, which would have allowed voters to vote on any available machines. This was rejected by the parties, which means both parties have an equal allocation of machines for each polling location. https://t.co/sBQstYIWl0 https://t.co/4EZPvC25Vu
— Diane Trautman (@dtrautman) March 4, 2020
Although there is an open question if that really would have fixed things. The Harris County GOP rejected that idea citing a number of reasons, including:
We have had reports of Democrat election workers coercing Republican voters. The Democrat Party habitually accuses Republicans of intimidation. With the inevitable imbalance of personnel, one party’s workers at a poll would wholly or partly manage the other party’s primary at many locations. That would give rise to disputes and questioned election results. To minimize confusion, neither party should run the other party’s primary.
Full letter here:
We’re seeing that it was a combination of factors that cuased the long lines, including volunteers who didn’t show up and old machines:
No. Primary elections are organized by the parties and administered by the county clerks. The clerk for Harris County (Diane Trautman) and Dallas County (John Warren) are both Democrats. There’s no conspiracy. Just huge turnout, no-show volunteers and 20 year old voting machines.
— Glen Allen Walken (@CoogGeo) March 4, 2020
Narrative busted. Again.
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