LOVE THIS!!!
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-Texas) voter mobilization organization launched a new voter registration tool on Thursday, days after the Texas legislature approved a controversial elections overhaul bill that many say will restrict access to the ballot box.
The group, Powered by People, launched the “Drive-to-You” program, an on-demand voter registration service that will allow eligible Texas voters to register to vote from their homes.
According to a press release from the organization, any Texas voter in an eligible county will be able to call a phone number and deploy a team of volunteer deputy registrars to their home, workplace or any other location to help them register to vote.
New counties are being added to the list of eligible areas almost every day, according to the group.
The organization cited the passage of S.B. 1 in the state legislature when announcing the new initiative.
The bill seeks to restrict a handful of voting procedures and increase the access of partisan poll watchers.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
Here’s a little more info:
How it works: The program is being launched by the voting organization Powered by People, which O'Rourke founded.
- It will start in 10 counties: Harris, Bexar, Webb, Tarrant, El Paso, Travis, Parker, Wise, Kaufman and Taylor, according to a release. It will expand to others in the coming days and weeks.
- Texans living in those counties can call (915) 209-7799 or use a QR code to schedule a time for one of over 1,000 participating volunteer deputy registrars to drive to them and help them register to vote.
What they're saying: "In knowing that they can get away with subverting democracy, Republican leaders in this state are growing more and more emboldened in the effort to restrict the rights of Texans," O'Rourke told Axios in a statement. There has been speculation that he may challenge Gov. Greg Abbott next year.
- "You can’t out-register voter suppression but every little bit helps," he added.
- O'Rourke and Powered by People senior advisor Cynthia Cano registered one El Paso woman on Wednesday, testing out the "drive-to-you" system, Cano told Axios.
Click here to help sign up more Texas counties for the Drive-to-You program.
O’Rourke’s political plans remain to be seen. He might run for Texas Governor but whatever he decides, he’s truly become a hero in the fight to turn Texas Blue:
There are few politicians who, within their own states, carry such high expectations. Stacey Abrams of Georgia, the Democrat to whom O’Rourke is most frequently compared, also lost a statewide election in 2018 and is now considering running for governor. But there are now two other prominent Democrats in her state — Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who won runoff elections in the national spotlight in January. In Texas, there are the Castro brothers, Joaquin and Julián, and Lina Hidalgo, the Harris County judge. But none of those Democrats has the profile or fundraising record O’Rourke has.
For the most part, Democrats here don’t seem to care that a loss to Abbott could hurt O’Rourke’s personal future. O’Rourke is a fundraising juggernaut, and if he entered the race he would give the state party a draw at the top of the ticket, likely sucking millions of Democratic dollars into Texas and helping to turn out voters who would support other Democrats on the ballot. There’s a chance O’Rourke wins. And there’s a chance that a loss, if it’s close enough, would keep O’Rourke’s promise alive, and not dampen enthusiasm for him two years later.
To Democrats still smarting from Republican victories in the state in 2020, if all O’Rourke’s candidacy did was help to flip a Texas legislative seat or House race, it might be worth it.
During the July march for voting rights, which wound from Georgetown, Texas, to the state capitol in Austin, about 125 clergypeople and activists walking two and three abreast hoisted banners and sang freedom songs on the scalding pavement of the frontage roads along Interstate 35. They said things about O’Rourke like, “He’s a beacon,” “He’s like a Kennedy,” “He’s got his heart in it,” and “I love him more than I hate Ted Cruz.”
“What are we waiting for?” said Amy Nathan Wright, a civil rights scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s not about him. It’s bigger than him.”
Gavin Rogers, a minister from San Antonio who was wearing a white robe and maroon Vans, said that sometimes “the best thing to do might be run and lose, if it’s best for the movement.” And when the march reached the capitol for a rally with country music icon Willie Nelson, O’Rourke looked out at a lawn specked with supporters still wearing “Be Beto” and “Beto for Texas” T-shirts from his previous campaigns. Near the front of the crowd, a woman in a sundress with a white, wide-brimmed hat, waved a homemade “Beto for Governor” sign.
He might not run. One Democrat in El Paso said O’Rourke told him several months ago that he felt some reservations. But it is getting late in the election cycle, and if he doesn’t, Democrats will be scrambling to find someone else.
I asked Steve Adler, the Democratic mayor of Austin, if it was a sustainable strategy for Texas Democrats simply to have O’Rourke run over and over again — a Senate race, followed by a presidential race, followed by a gubernatorial race and, if that falls short, another run for U.S. Senate.
“Why not?” he asked. He paused, and added, “Just for a while.”
It also remains to be seen if COVID could still hurt Abbott along with the abortion ban. Thursday’s Morning Consult poll is seeing some evidence that the pandemic is hurting Abbott. One thing to note, this poll was taken before the abortion ban was signed into law in Texas:
Two Republican governors famed for their antagonistic approach to some COVID-19 safety measures have seen their popularity decline this summer as they presided over some of the country’s worst COVID-19 spikes. But for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the virus’s toll has hardly hurt either of them with their party’s base as they look toward their political futures.
According to Morning Consult Political Intelligence polling conducted Aug. 21-30, 48 percent of voters in Florida and Texas approve of their governor’s job performance, while similar shares disapprove. The downturn since daily polling that concluded on July 1, before COVID-19’s delta variant spread rapidly across their states and prompted concerns about accessibility of hospital beds and oxygen, has been especially stark for DeSantis.
The first-term Florida governor’s net approval rating – the share of voters who approve of his job performance minus the share who disapprove – has fallen 14 percentage points since the beginning of July, larger than the 7-point drop in sentiment about Abbott over the same time period.
While the two states are not alone in falling victim to the especially contagious coronavirus variant, their governors – DeSantis, a conservative star up for re-election next year who is seen as a potential GOP presidential front-runner in 2024, and Abbott, prominent in his own right as the leader of America’s second-largest state – have taken on a great deal of attention for how they’ve handled it.
The poll points out that Abbott and DeSantis’ strategies have been paying off in mobilizing the GOP base for them but is hurting them with Independents, Democrats and everyone else. Also, O’Rourke is encouraging Texas voters to take action on the Texas GOP’s assault on women’s health:
Democracy and Health are on the ballot next year and we need to help O’Rourke and his team keep registering voters in Texas. Click here to donate and get involved with Powered by People’s efforts.
Also, just received this e-mail today from Democracy for America:
The House of Representatives has passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a huge step towards securing the right to vote for all Americans.
Unsurprisingly, not a single Republican voted for it.
The passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which will strengthen and restore the landmark civil rights era Voting Rights Act of 1965, could not come at a better time as Republicans are ramping up efforts to suppress the vote, using Trump’s Big Lie as an excuse.
Just this week, the Texas State House passed a bill that directly targets people of color by both banning drive-through polling places and 24-hour voting. They also gave more power to partisan poll watchers, making voter intimidation more likely to happen.
So, while Democrats across the nation fight to protect our voting rights, Republicans are working overtime to take them away.
If we're going to see the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act make its way out of the Senate and onto President Biden’s desk, we’re going to need all of us to stand up and raise our voices to demand they pass this vital legislation now!
The Senate must follow the lead of House Democrats and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Add your name to our petition if you agree >>
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was only signed into law because Americans stood up and demanded change.
Following the 2013 Supreme Court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, several Republican-controlled states have increased their voter suppression tactics that directly target people of color.
When passed, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will stop these attacks on our right to vote by restoring and expanding upon the full protections of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Stand with DFA as we fight to protect the right to vote nationwide by demanding the Senate pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act now.
Thank you for everything you’re doing to protect America’s vote.
- Tre
Tre Graves
Campaign Organizer
Democracy for America
Click here to add your name.