If Voting in Harris County Was Tough, Blame the Texas GOP (Opinion)

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Regarding the Make No Mistake: Texas GOP Wants Control of Local Elections (Opinion)” (May 5): Harris County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Siegel argues in her letter that SB 1993 and other bills are needed because people (like the mother with a car full of children) turned away from a polling station due to a lack of paper might not have been able to vote from everything, perhaps because of the small window in which to vote and the lack of time to seek another polling station as well as the general discouragement that a first-time voter might feel.”

Hmm. Maybe if Harris County (and the other 253 counties) had long early voting hours, drive-thru voting, 24/7 voting in some locations, a mail-in voting system simple and many mail-in ballot drop boxes, none of the barriers to dropping a ballot that Ms. Siegel cites would exist. In fact, with extensive early voting and mail-in voting options, there probably wouldn’t even be a risk of running out of paper at in-person polling stations on Election Day.

Wait, didn’t Harris County implement a lot of these things during the 2020 election cycle? Yes. The efforts of former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins led to record turnout. However, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed the Senate Bill7 in 2021 barring counties from implementing many of these voting access improvements.

So the root cause of Ms Siegel’s concern about the lack of paper making voting in (blue) Harris County difficult and daunting can be traced to her own party’s earlier actions.

Susan Hanley, Houston

The Harris County Republican Party chairwoman said in her letter that “nearly three percent of polling places ran out of ballots at one point, preventing voters from casting their ballots.” Could this mean that the candidates who were declared winners of the November 8, 2022 election could have actually won with a larger majority?

Sally CurtisHouston

Regarding “Texas Republicans want power to void Harris County election over ballot mishaps” (May 2): Reading this morning about Republican state takeover of Harris County , I felt, for the first time in my life, what it was like to live under totalitarianism.

William Nelson, Houston

To take part

On “Abbott Tells Chicago Mayor He Won’t Stop Ferrying Migrants North” (May 2): With Every Unredacted Text, It Becomes More and More Clear That Science Lacks the Tools to Probe adequately the depths of Tucker Carlson’s evil bloodlust. One could draw a line between his rants on replacement theory and at least three mass shootings. But let’s not forget the line that just recently ran from Tuckers’ mouth to Greg Abbotts’ ear. More than just a suggestion to forgive a convicted murderer, it’s a theme that runs through these articles on page A4 of the May 4 print edition and many others.

Theatrical GOP performative cruelty on full screen. Here in Texas, it’s a declaration of all-out war on public schools, immigrants, women, transgender children and their families, the vote, rural health care, books, drag shows, teachers holders and municipal autonomy. No wonder families are fleeing the state while others refuse to enter.

Tragically and literally, children have become victims in this war. The best our governor can do is hypocritically mumble something about illegal immigrants or force schools to post the Ten Commandments. As If You Wouldn’t Kill is a cost effective deterrent for mass shooters.

I don’t think those sentiments are shared by a majority of Texans. The polls suggest so. Demographically threatened, Abbott draws inspiration from and panders to a small, angry but vocal contingent. He should do the state a favor and go to Chicago by bus. Sadly, we’ll continue to suffer the likes of Abbott, Ted Cruz, Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton until voters can look past the “R” next to a candidate’s name to see what’s going on. really find there. Or is not.

Robert Campbell, Katy

Governor Abbott is no different from Trump and the January 6 insurgency. Abbott passes a law to void elections that are not in his favor and that of his party, for whatever reason he sees fit. That’s what it’s really about. I don’t think he will stop at Harris County, but he could extend this law to every county in the state. If the biggest city and the biggest county in Texas don’t fight, watch out for the smaller towns and counties.

Before we know it, little by little, our great state will be ruled by a dictator like those of Russia, China and North Korea. And you know what they do to those who oppose them.

We have the right to vote as citizens, but new state laws are being passed to revoke the votes we are entitled to cast. This must not happen. Our country and our state are supposed to be democracies. The leadership of the Republican Party has become so corrupt and abusive that it is no longer recognizable. We cannot and must not remain silent, gullible and complacent. Our democracy must prevail at all times. We cannot let them take away our rights.

Shirley Jefferson, Missouri Town

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