It looks like Texas is a state that automatically restores franchise upon completion of sentence+parole+probation. But,
*Even in states where ex-offenders automatically regain the right to vote upon completion of their sentence, the process of re-registering to vote often is difficult. One reason is the complexity of the laws and processes surrounding disenfranchisement… It often involves lengthy paperwork, burdensome documentation, and the involvement and coordination of several state agencies.
A second barrier to restoration of voting rights for ex-offenders is the often inconsistent communication among agencies… Ex-offenders sometimes are not aware that they regain their voting rights automatically upon completion of their sentence…
A final obstacle is under-funding of parole boards in some states where offenders must apply to have their rights restored. A massive backlog of applications can exist …*
So, although the law says they get their vote back, the reality may be very different.
New York makes it easy. A friend has a felony from about 10 years ago and registered to vote at the end of September. He applied online through the DMV website, and just received his voter card. He didn’t need any additional paperwork.
I bet there are a lot of people who think they aren’t eligible to vote, so they don’t even try. That’s sad.
Once you’ve received your “final” conviction of a felony, you can’t vote. However, you regain it “automatically” upon finishing your sentence–including probation, parole, etc Regaining the right to run for office can be a bit more complex.
Patience, folks! If Texas goes Dem (and let’s not count our chickens!), I’ll open a thread on November 9. I’d probably do an initial thread to solicit nominations, and then a thread for the actual voting.
Agree with Victor’s post above. It won’t happen this year, but this is a fire alarm in the middle of the night. At the same time, I think democrats need to double down on efforts at the grassroots level and figure out what kind of party they’re going to be and what kind of message they’re going to have. They have opportunities to take Texas and Arizona by reaching out to minority voters with a progressive message. But make no mistake: the republicans are going to go full on in vote suppression.
Indiana was a battleground state in 2008 and then went back to fairly red in 2012.
Will Texas do the same or will it stay purple like North Carolina?
Is Trump running a fluke election or is Texas moving leftward?
Assume Hillary wins national polls by ten but loses Texas by three. That means the state is thirteen points to the right of national results
In 2012 Obama won the national vote by 4 and lost Texas by 16. So a twenty point margin.
So Texas seems to have reduced its gop margin by 1/3, going from a 20 point gop margin to 13. Is that due to demographics and voters registration drives or just trumps unpopularity?
If whites drop to 50% of Texan voters the state should turn purple. They were 63% in 2008.
That’s what I pointed out in another thread. My county has almost 20% non-white population, yet Obama only got 11% of the vote last election. People are looking at this purlpeing of Texas and thinking it’s some demographic shift, it’s because the Republican nominee is a blithering idiot. 538 or one of those predictive sites has the county as +25 blue over 2012, I find it hard to believe this is because of a demographics shift - it’s because Trump is even more unpopular than Hillary.
Texas didn’t have some massive blue shift since Romney, it’s just that Trump is widely viewed as a fuckhead.
Another thing going against Trump in the state besides race is that white demographics aren’t particular friendly for him. White Texans are generally more educated than in other similar red states and the white working class is smaller and weaker politically. The cities and suburbs in Texas are increasingly full of middle class professionals that aren’t particularity conservative and even less excited about a populist cretin like Trump.
The Texas GOP may seem like its run by idiots (many are) but it is this massive juggernaut because the people who run it generally know what they are doing (for better but usually worse). The establishment run the state and they are well aware of the dangers of alienating Hispanics and losing big business as an ally with anti-trade hysteria and racist speech. They will blow the dog whistles to get out the redneck vote but they’e not dumb enough to hand them the keys to the party. The urban white working class is fairly small and almost a non-factor politically.
Do you have a cite for that? Texas looks pretty average for total population education levels but I guess the white population could be particularly high. It is majority minority so I don’t know.
I think that a lot of women here in Texas are also fed up with the Republican treatment of abortion rights, student testing and a variety of other issues. Pink running shoes are still a fashion accessory, thanks to Wendy Davis’ filibuster against a ban on abortions after 20 months and to create additional barriers to abortion (Gov Rick Perry later called a special session to reintroduce and pass the bill.) Mandatory student testing is being rolled back and is being increasingly seen as both pork and as a barrier to learning (Months were spent teaching the test and neglecting the curriculum.) I get the sense that Trump’s attitude towards women is rubbing salt in the wounds.