The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a Friday incident in which a group of Trump supporters, driving trucks and waving Trump flags, surrounded and followed a Biden campaign bus as it drove up I-35 in Hays County, a law enforcement official confirmed to The Texas Tribune Saturday. The confrontation, captured on video, featured at least one minor collision and led to Texas Democrats canceling three scheduled campaign events on Friday. The campaign officials cited safety concerns for the cancellations. The highway skirmish came as Democrats close ground in a state that is polling like a potential battleground in the race for president. Recent polls indicate the presidential race in Texas between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden is tight, with some national prognosticators calling it a toss-up. Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas [Friday] instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harms way, said Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director for the Biden campaign.
But that's just clear cut violence and physical intimidation, so let's jump to another crime that's more subtle and disgusting:
For 18 days of early voting, Harris County residents waited in line, had their identities verified by poll workers, and cast their votes in a presidential election that has seen record-breaking early turnout. But for the nearly 127,000 people who did so at drive-thru polling places instead of in traditional indoor sites, many are now watching with fear as a wealthy conservative activist, a Republican state representative and two GOP candidates aim to throw out their ballots at the last minute. In the states most populous and largely Democratic county, drive-thru voters are left anxiously awaiting court decisions before Election Day on Tuesday that could force them to go back to the polls. Likely many more are unaware of their votes' potential demise.
Two lawsuits by the group of plaintiffs have been filed in recent days after a similar challenge was already rejected by the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court. We thought it was fine, and then I see these stories, she said, referring to the lawsuits seeking to toss the votes. We can both still go on Tuesday and vote if we have to, but I want to know. If my votes going to be thrown out, when are we going to know thats the case?
"But ...but... this has never been done before, so it's understandable these lawsuits were filed so close to the election!"
Harris County first tested drive-thru voting in the July primary runoffs with little controversy, and the countys 10 drive-thru centers were established for the fall election to make early voting easier for people concerned about entering polling places during the pandemic. Voters pull up in their cars, and after their registrations and identifications have been confirmed by poll workers, are handed an electronic tablet through their car windows to cast ballots.
"Oh...."
Now, let's learn who's behind this shit:
The plaintiffs, all Republicans, are conservative activist Steven Hotze, state Rep. Steve Toth of The Woodlands, congressional candidate Wendell Champion and judicial candidate Sharon Hemphill. Hotze is an active GOP donor and is one of the most prolific culture warriors on the right. He's a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage and was a key figure in the unsuccessful push for the 2017 "bathroom bill" in the Texas Legislature. This year, he has filed numerous lawsuits seeking to overturn Gov. Greg Abbotts coronavirus restrictions and block Harris Countys efforts to make it easier for people to vote. And he left a voicemail for Abbotts chief of staff this summer telling him to shoot and kill people protesting the in-custody death of George Floyd.
Hopefully based on prior attempts by this fucking psychopath that failed, this also will. But being so close to the election and leaving those 127K voters in limbo is especially vile.
Teeing up a massive potential disenfranchisement of Harris County voters, the Republicans are asking the courts to not only declare drive-thru voting illegal in Texas, but to throw out the votes cast at such polling locations. An earlier legal challenge against drive-thru voting brought by Hotze, Hemphill and the Harris County Republican Party was rejected by the Texas Supreme Court last week. (Voters who used the drive-thru option are subjected to the same verification requirements as those who vote in traditional polling places.) Harris County officials have continued to defend the legality of the program, and noted that the Texas secretary of states office had approved of drive-thru voting. Keith Ingram, the states director of elections, said in a court hearing last month in another lawsuit that drive-thru voting is a creative approach that is probably okay legally, according to court transcripts.