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Straight-ticket voting restored; Abbott under fire over early balloting; license plate issues.
If your knees were aching at the mere thought of long, snaking socially-distanced lines at the polls made even longer in Texas by the recent demise of straightticket voting, you’re in luck. A federal judge late Friday dropped a bombshell ruling that temporarily resurrected Texans’ beloved right to, with the touch of a button, cast a straight-Republican or straightDemocrat ballot without having to bother with reading any of the candidates’ names. The judge cited the pandemic in ruling that it’s not a great time for Texas to slow down in-person voting when risk of COVID-19 exposure has many wanting to expedite the process. It’s good news for folks who would rather cast a ballot in two minutes versus the 15 minutes it takes to vote in each individual race. And actually, it could save Harris County voters a combined 187,000 hours this election, according to one analysis. Just when you thought voting in 2020 couldn’t get any crazier or more confusing. Next thing you know, the sitting president will refuse to agree to peaceful transition of power if he loses.
Texas’ Republican officials haven’t exactly gone out of their way to improve voter access during the pandemic, with the state throwing up roadblocks to any effort meant to expand the mail-in option. The lone bright spot was Gov. Greg Abbott’s extension of the early voting period by about a week. Alas, even that sop to democracy has offended the (in)sensitivities of the voter suppression crowd. Texas GOP Chair Allen West, activist Steven Hotze and a handful of state lawmakers are asking the Texas Supreme Court to intervene. This will be a test for the court, which has so far been unreceptive to attempts to expand voting. Next time we complain about Abbott, please remind us of the jackals in his party that he is keeping at bay.
Most Texans’ politics would be better served if parties used the same criteria for leadership roles as the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles uses for personalized license plates: anything objectionable or misleading will be declined. In the first six months of 2020 alone, the state denied more than 2,400 vanity plate requests, reports KSAT-TV. The offenders include such gems as THZNUTS, URGROSS and MUD BUTT, which raises the question: who knew 12year-olds could drive?
If your taste in personalized plates runs toward the more refined, Texas is selling off 50 designs during the GR8PL8 auction at MyPlates.com through Oct. 21. Proceeds benefit the state’s general fund, which we hear could use a lift. Plates available include 1999 (for Prince fans), AMERICN (for single A fans), AAAAA (for multiple A fans), HAN SOLO (for fans of shooting first), BEEVO (for UT grads who failed spelling) and GIG EMM (for Aggie grads who we know can’t spell).
We kid our Aggie friends, but we’ll gladly shell out to buy them some TRTL LVR license plates after we heard Texas A&M is opening a hospital for ocean-dwelling reptiles on its Pelican Isle campus in Galveston. According to KHOUTV, the short-term medical facility will aid and shelter the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. The university is hoping to raise some green to add a long-term recovery center and intends to make it a tourist attraction. A worthy project, considering the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is the most critically endangered species of its kind in the world.