In response to widespread challenges to 2020 election results, many states, including Texas, have changed laws governing the voting process. In this state, voters face greater restrictions while partisan elements have been greater freedom.
Those controversies, coupled with COVID-related attrition that has affected precincts just like it has affected workplaces and other areas, has left many precincts short of workers with just a few weeks to go before the Nov. 8 general election. The deadline to register for voting credentials is Oct. 11 and early voting starts Oct. 24.
People interested in participating in the elections, and voters themselves, are encouraged to learn what they can about the new laws. The Texas Secretary of State’s Office has posted information about the changes on its website, VoteTexas.gov.
A Fort Worth-area group was in the Rio GrandeValley last week to train interested people regarding Texas voting rules, including a new law that allows party- or candidate-beholden poll watchers free access to the polling areas. Poll watchers aren’t allowed to enter a polling booth with a voter, but otherwise are allowed “free movement” throughout the area.
The group that offered the training session, the True Texas Project, is unabashedly partisan, tied to positions and groups far enough to the right that the Southern Poverty Law Center placed the group on its list of anti-government organizations. It continues to promote allegations of nationwide voter fraud that dozens of investigations and lawsuits have found to be unsubstantiated. However, its training could help reduce the chance that such allegations arise this year.
The Project will return to the Valley Oct. 1 to give another training session in WillacyCounty. A majority of the interest in the new voting rules is on the conservative side. Liberals, however, should not refrain from participating just because they don’t like the changes. They can help monitor the election and those participating in the process — including the other poll watchers.
If voter turnout is a high as we hope it is, precinct workers should be too busy tending to the voters to adequately monitor what the poll watchers are doing. Although their permission to interact with voters is limited, their free mobility could enable them to get close enough to voters to intimidate or otherwise influence some of them.
Regardless of the partisan nature of the True Texas Project, it is providing a service and could help our elections run more smoothly. And of course, a liberal counterpart that doesn’t trust this group can also present its own training.
That participation, of course, relies on adequate training. People who might be interested in helping during the elections are encouraged to take advantage of any training opportunities. Even those who are undecided but curious should attend; the information offered at the sessions could help convince some people to decide.
Democracy works best when more people participate, representing the rich diversity of opinion that promotes progress.
Becoming the best-informed voters and poll workers helps make that happen.
