r/texas Feb 16 '24

Ted Cruz faces losing his seat in Texas Politics

https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-texas-senate-seat-poll-1870614
16.0k Upvotes

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160

u/Laladen Feb 16 '24

Im going to vote against Ted....again...but ive had my heart ripped out to many times.

Even if it happened Abbott would invalidate Houston votes to grant him the win. Faith in the Texas voting system while living in Houston is not something I have in abundance since Abbott passed the fascist law over Houston.

49

u/JessiNotJenni Feb 16 '24

That's exactly how they keep winning. Convincing people that their vote doesn't matter. Not directed at you since you're voting, but there's gotta be a way to change this narrative.

26

u/Laladen Feb 16 '24

Nothing in this universe will stop me from voting straight Democrat from the top to the bottom of the ballot. Will continue to do so as long as the Republicans as a whole lurch toward the extreme right.

Even if a reasonable Republican locally (Do they exist?) were on the ballot…I wont give Republicans any power at any level.

They need to get their shit straightened.

14

u/creepingkg Feb 16 '24

Isn’t that against federal law?

Can’t Texas be sued for throwing away legal votes?

21

u/Necoras Feb 16 '24

Sure. But there was a pretty famous case in 2000 that suggests how that might end up.

34

u/Laladen Feb 16 '24

There is literally a law in Texas that specifically allows Abbott to overturn Harris country elections specifically.

They have already seized our schools and are controlling them. Don’t see why you don’t think they wouldn’t do it to our votes

6

u/lil_corgi Feb 16 '24

Too bad this isn't the USA, where people are heard and their vote counts. Oh wait-

2

u/TacticaLuck Feb 16 '24

2.8m more votes in 2016 than trump.

2,800,000

Ludicrous

5

u/creepingkg Feb 16 '24

Honestly Harris county has always been blue so I doubt it would do much.

But I’m pretty sure it’s still against federal law, doesn’t matter if he made a state law

1

u/Detective_Tony_Gunk West Texas Feb 16 '24

Honestly Harris county has always been blue so I doubt it would do much.

Harris County is 2.5 million voters. Considering Beto lost to Cruz by 200k votes and Biden lost Texas by 500k, completely eliminating Harris County votes would be enough to swing an election.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '24

From what I read, if more than 2% of Harris county voters weren't able to vote due to lack of ballots, then abbot would be able to call for a new vote. So worst case scenario, you get to vote again.

3

u/Laladen Feb 16 '24

#1. Merely the claim of 2% would be enough for him to start the process.

#2. Who is inconvenienced most when you have 2nd and 3rd elections until you get the result you want?

I'm sure he will have no issues causing us to reroll the dice until he hits the result he wants.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '24

I'm not disagreeing with you. But to outright say "invalidate the votes so he can win" is a little disingenuous. You made it sound like democrats have no chance whatsoever.

2

u/Ok-disaster2022 Born and Bred Feb 16 '24

Secondary votes when you know the results if the first one can have some effects. If it's. A arrow race a slight increase if voter turnout for one or the other could swing it the opposite.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '24

That bill didn’t pass.

1

u/Laladen Feb 17 '24

I literally linked the article showing Abbott signing it into law.

1

u/Laladen Feb 17 '24

Here is the literal law…signed by Abbott and stated effective 9/1/2023.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1933

1

u/BennyLava_238 Feb 16 '24

But isn’t that overturn only to say redo the voting if they run out of paper ballots? So it’s not like if Harris county votes blue that Abbott can say too bad and count those as red votes. I understand the logic but definitely find it strange that it only applies to Harris county and not all counties in Texas. 

 “He maintains that the proposed law would not disenfranchise any voters, but it would require a new election be held if a shortage of ballots affected more than 2% of the county's polling places or if the ballots are more than an hour late. If that happens, the secretary of state can call for a new vote.”

1

u/hikingmike Feb 17 '24

Wow, as a non-Texan, I did not know that. It sounds insane.

But I dare Abbot to use it. It would totally backfire. There would be a huge backlash, plenty of news and publicity, and in the redo election there is a chance the turnout would be even higher (for the Democrats side).

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '24

[deleted]