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Archive photo · 22 December 2023Texas Early Voting Surges As Donald Trump Tariffs Fuel Rising Fuel Prices
“The certification of election results is a ministerial duty under the law, which means it’s mandatory.”
“‘I have lost tonnes of business due to our president right now,’ he said, blaming Trump’s tariffs and rising fuel prices.”
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC0 · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Early voting surges, with Texas showing sharp increases ahead of Election Day. Analysts see potential Democratic gains in the Senate and House amid voting trends.
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Texas politics and turnout
In the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Jesus Robles sold mechanical bulls and tied his 2024 vote for Donald Trump to an expected economic boost, while he later said, "I have lost tonnes of business due to our president right now," blaming Trump’s tariffs and rising fuel prices. Robles cast his ballot on the final day of early voting in Alamo, Texas, about 50km (30 miles) from the US-Mexico border, and he said, "Because trust me, we work hard, the middle-class people work hard, and we’re the ones that get screwed the most." Early voting surged in key Senate states, and the Los Angeles Times reported that more than 6.3 million Texans had voted early by Wednesday, compared with 4.2 million at the same point four years ago, a 50% increase.
The Associated Press analysis cited by the Los Angeles Times also said early voting jumped 83% in South Carolina and rose 34% in Kansas, where Republican Senator Roger Marshall faces Democratic megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton. In Texas, Harris County, which includes Houston, the Los Angeles Times said 862,700 people had voted by Wednesday, up from 564,500 at the same point in 2022.
Midterms and congressional stakes
The midterm elections are held on Tuesday, November 3, and the vote is described as a referendum on the policies of the ruling power during Donald Trump’s White House term. The elections renew all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, with 218 seats, and just over a third, 35, of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs this time. The 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats, 35, are at stake, and forecast models estimate an 80% probability that Democrats win the lower chamber.
Democrats would need to gain three more seats to take the House from the Republicans, while Democrats must achieve a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate. Democrats hope to oust moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine and to hold onto their seat with progressive Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
Certification fights and legal duties
Election results in Texas begin rolling out the evening of Election Day, but results become official only after they are certified and a “certificate of election” is granted to the winners weeks later.
Jonathan Diaz said, "There is no discretion," and certification is a ministerial duty under the law, which means it is mandatory.
Joshua Blank emphasized that the Texas Election Code requires officials to certify tabulations, saying, "It’s not a ‘may," it’s a ‘shall,'" and it called it an obligation.
On Oct. 27, the Potter County Republican Party filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Nov. 3 midterm elections unless all machine-cast paper ballots were counted by hand.
Kenneth Parreno warned that advocates were watching certification closely because officials have been accused of spreading disinformation about who is voting and the integrity of elections, and he said, "We’ve seen, unfortunately, from our state and federal officials efforts to spread disinformation".