The Story behind Harris County, TX all-time record voter turnout

[My Pet Orangutan]

The Harris County Clerk’s Office announced on Twitter that early voting in Harris County Texas now exceeds their total votes cast in 2016.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142616583

This is no accident.

Houston voters are turning out in record numbers. Could they flip Texas for Biden?

Election officials in Harris County tripled the number of early-voting sites, expanded their hours and added drive-thru voting.

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In 2016, under Republican leadership, Harris County spent about $4 million to administer the elections. After Democrats took control of every countywide office, officials increased the election budget to a staggering $31 million this year.

That’s allowed election officials to triple the number of early-voting sites in the county of 4.7 million residents. They vastly expanded voting hours so residents like Martinez could come after work. During the final days of early voting, some locations will be open 24 hours. And officials also opened 10 drive-thru voting sites across the county, making it possible for residents worried about the coronavirus to cast ballots from the safety of their cars.

As a result, more Harris County residents have voted early this year than ever before.

“What we're seeing is, when you build it they come,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top elected official, who is the first woman and the first Latina to hold the job. “We’ve learned that we can't blame the historic lack of participation on the voters themselves. It's been these obstacles.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/houston-voters-are-turning-out-record-numbers-could-they-flip-n1245165

[Sherman A1]

1. Fantastic

[smirkymonkey]

2. K&R

[ananda]

3. Love it!

Houston was my city for many years.

I miss it to this day!

[Karma13612]

4. Wow! 👍💙

[beachbumbob]

5. If we democrats WANT TO WIN, we need to take back state and LOCAL positions, GOP has

control over so many of these offices and one reason they maintain MINORITY CONTROL. We can make democracy actually FUNCTIONAL in doing this

[JCMach1]

10. Even if Biden doesn't win, we are likely to flip the legislature

Last edited Fri Oct 30, 2020, 10:32 AM - Edit history (1)

AND pickup another 5-10 Congessional seats. I see that outcome as WORST CASE at this point

[Tommymac]

11. Confessional Seats?

Sounds appropriate for making amends after years of Right Wing control.

[JCMach1]

25. Oh Lord, Covid strikes again....didn't see the typo LOL

[LymphocyteLover]

15. which in itself would be HUGE

[mysteryowl]

6. I was thinking of all the GOTV post cards, hand written, and mailed to Texas voters.

People all over the country helped with Texas voter turn out.

[ananda]

7. Yes, it was noticeable..

even here in my little enclave.

I was so pleased to see all the VOTE messages
taped to posts and doors.

[mysteryowl]

8. So, you are in Texas and knew of the national handwritten cards to your state?

I am glad to hear about the messages on your door!

[ananda]

24. I knew I saw VOTE flyers taped on my door and elsewhere.

They were paper and fairly small.

[JCMach1]

9. Still one more day to go of early voting in TX

[Johnny2X2X]

12. People are tempering their expectations

2016 is still fresh in our heads. And experts have warned not to read too much into the early voting party affiliation. But in any other year if a highly Dem country broke records like this people would call it what it is, a very very good sign that Dems are going to outperform the polls up and down the ticket.

You're hearing Dem county after Dem country breaking records, not so much from red counties. This is the type of election where Dem candidates beat the polls by at least 2-3 points and in some cases 5-7 points. Including at the top of the ticket. I truly believe we're going to see down ticket upsets because of this, races we thought the Democrat was down 3 or 4 they're going to win, almost all of the tossups will go to the Democratic candidate.

[Bucky]

20. It would be insane not to be a little gunshy after what happened in 2016

But what can we do but keep the faith and keep on encouraging our neighbors to go vote?

We do our duty and let the universe manage the consequences.

[Johnny2X2X]

21. People have been working their tails off

4 days left, normally the last 4 days is a GOTV scramble, 2020 is perhaps a little difference in that perhaps 2/3s or more of the Democratic vote has already been cast. I don't see anyone hesitating though, the GOTV campaign is just as fervent. And it's going to be a good day for voting in liberal areas on Tuesday, lines will by definition be 2/3s or more less long than usual.

I see no one resting, no one is not going full tilt, 4 days left, every vote counts. No one is complacent at all! No one is not voting because they think it's in the bag. Everyone learned from 2016.

[olegramps]

23. I will remain very skeptical because of the Clinton election.

It appears that there will be a massive turnout by Republicans on Nov 3 just as in the last election. I am praying that my fears are false and I will awaken to a Biden victory. I think that one of the most important aspect of the political situation is the virtual control of by Republicans in state and local elections that can have a significant impact because of their control of just how the elections are run. I am a firm believer that the state control of federal elections should be changed to total federal control of all federal elections. I would not change that in regard to local and state elections that should be controlled by the state in accordance with federal laws that should guarantee that they do not discriminate. The attacks by the Republicans on the voter rights laws must be reinstated and reinforced to include heavy fines and imprisonment for obstruction practices.

[onetexan]

30. " the state control of federal elections should be changed to total federal control of all federal

elections"

Do you realize what you're saying here? Imagine if all states' elections were controlled by the Con/GOP right now. We'd be in a world of hurt.

The key here is to make sure Dems have a much larger participation at the local elected offices, as in Harris County mentioned above. Look what they were able to do to turn out the vote there. All politics is local. Vote in down ballot Dems candidates as well so they're able to make structural & systemic changes to improve voter turnout and fight voter suppression. Harris County should serve as a model for other counties throughout the country.

[olegramps]

32. When the Congress is controlled by Democrats the necessary reforms can be made.

We have a multitude of conflicting laws throughout the nation. At the present and for any foreseeable future numerous counties, not just state legislatures are able to rig the laws in the favor of the ruling party. Just because they may be controlled by Democrats certainly doesn't assure that there will not be any abuses. If the federal government controls the laws there is far great chance that they will be enacted to pass constitutional adherence. I do not share unlimited faith that Democrats could would no abuse the system. One only has to be aware of the elections in the Southern States in which the Democrats were in control to realize that power has the capacity to corrupts regardless of which party is in control and in which Blacks were denied their rights. When the voting rights legislation was passed the Democrats fled the party and the Republicans took up where they had left off.

[onetexan]

33. of course all the problems u listed do need to be resolved, but as we know, Dems won't always be in

power. Bottom line is control of elections need to remain at the state level. God forbid we have it centralized & crooked GOP is in power to take advantage & wreak havoc.

[olegramps]

34. States and in control now and that is the problem.

[onetexan]

35. Problems will always be there for as long as we have crooked people in office. Key is making sure

there are good people in office to fend against it. This problem has long been an issue and need to be corrected. GOP control 60% of state legislatures. Dems have been cavalier for years now re: focusing on down-ballot races and 2016 hopefully has awakened us. It will take catching up going forward. Bottom line it's by each state, NOT at the national level. Decentralized control, even if it's flawed, is alot better than federal given the party in control has the levers to set rules for the entire country. States' rights need to be protected. We are a UNION of states, not one single state.

[olegramps]

36. The only solution to the suppression of Black voters was federal laws.

The reality is that States don't have the organization to conduct voting. The solution is that they turn the elections over to county control. You earlier stated that Harris county an example of how elections should be conducted. Well as soon as they provided a solution it was challenged. Thankfully it was rejected. To believe that the states most states will be able to overcome the problem is not reasonable. The situation is such that within a state you have as many possibly different locally enacted rules as there as counties. Also I stated before, the experience in the South demonstrates that just because the elections are controlled by Democrats certainly is no assurance that they will not be as prejudiced as the presently Republican controlled state. I have nothing more to say about the subject.

We can agree that the Democrats have not done a very good job in counteracting the Republican's control of local and state elections. I was involved in local elections for over 40 years and saw how effective the Republicans were in maximizing their influence. A major coup was their participation with church groups. We totally failed to counteract their claim to being the party of family and predominately Christian values. We also failed to be able to match the turnout of congregations that voted as a block. They propagandize themselves as the party of family values and were able to painted the Democrats as hedonists hell bent on the destruction of these value. They pushed the false notion that our nation was solely founded on Christian principles rather than the strong humanistic Enlightenment concepts that rejected religious domination and its history of flagrant abuses. I will hand it to them. They were very successful in magnifying their influence while the Democrats sat at home.

[LymphocyteLover]

13. that is phenonemonal! Awesome story.

[Recursion]

16. Most common last name among early voters was "Nguyen"

At least that was true earlier this week.

[babylonsister]

26. Wow! That's cool; I know Houston is a melting pot. nt

[texasfiddler]

27. It is a Nguyen Nguyen situation as far as I'm concerned :)

[onetexan]

31. the Vietnamese community by & large have been historically conservative leaning, esp'ly the older

immigrants due to their solidarity with President Ford's passage of the Vietnam refugee relief program, and with John Mccain who we know was a Vietnam vet.
That said, the younger generations - American educated or American born - identify themselves as more liberal leaning. I'm skeptical but cautiously optimistic it was more the latter from the community who turned out. Harris Cty has a large and thriving contingent of Vietnamese immigrants.

[Lonestarblue]

17. It has taken a concerted effort to register new voters and get them out to vote.

Beto O’Rouke’s group has done great work, but so has the Texas Democratic Party and the local big-city parties, along with candidates. That’s what it will take to win back more local and state races in all fifty states, and that’s what we need to start doing.

For those who are interested in the Texas votes, the Texas Tribune is publishing daily votes (texastribune.org), no paywall, and they have a vote tracker that shows the number of registered voters and percentage already votes for the major counties. They also show how those counties voted in 2016 and 2018. Very interesting statistics to watch. They haven’t posted Oct. 29 totals yet, but as of Wednesday, 8.6 million people (51% of registered voters) had voted. I think some pundit said a few days ago that if Texas surpasses 11 million votes, it could very well flip. Oh happy day if that happens!

[My Pet Orangutan]

18. +excellent

Congratulations to all.

[Mollyann]

19. Lina

I have loved watching Lina grow into her job and become more confident. Her first few news conferences her voice was small and wavering. She is only 29 years old so she has many years ahead.

[Bucky]

22. She's doing amazing work and it expanding the mission of the county.

I liked her predecessor as judge, Ed Emmett--he was a decent and fair Republican, but embodied that "basic services done right" philosophy of moderate Republicans. I voted for her because her name was on the D side and didn't expect she'd win. But she's been tremendous for showing what truly progressive, activist government can do with just a few community-improving programs.

The last time we had a 20something county judge, we built the Astrodome. This time it's going to build a better future.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

29. I agree. Hats off to County Judge Lina Hidalgo and County Clerk Chris Hollins

They both have very impressive credentials and have conveyed those into an incredible results in preparing and conducting the election, in spite Of Gov. abbots and the Texas GOP efforts to sabotage things.

The genius here is, not just defending voting rights, bot going on offense to give us more options.

[BlueWavePsych]

28. Turn Texas BLUE!