In his orders, hell suspend two to three laws specifically by name, and then hell say any other laws that could allow a local official to do something inconsistent with what Im doing, Menefee said. They are trying to make it as difficult as possible, and talking people out (of driving ballots themselves) by warning them there will be long lines, Siegel said. (Except for Steve Radack, who still has a nice chunk of change in his account.) Morales-Doyle said that Morgan began the case with a reasonable fear of prosecution and while the state has indicated a disinclination to prosecute she does not know the position of the Travis County district attorney, nor what future district attorneys would do. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) - Gov. I did not see any news items related to this, so what you see here is all I know. This is not some sort of radical rebellion, he said. I was also told that the settlement amount was $20 million, which was discussed at this weeks Commissioners Court meeting. If even one is bounced, Abbott could appoint a replacement for those in the criminal courts. The letters stem from the investigation into the 2019 drug raid of a small home on Harding Street in south Houston. Another reminder: There were 782 voting locations on Election Day, and you could vote at any of them. local news and culture, Faith Bugenhagen Ignoring the letter forces the opposing partys lawyer to do one thing recommend that his or her client proceed to Court. In a statement, Air Alliance Houston said the agreements will do very little to protect Houston communities from the harms posed by this project, specifically related to air pollution caused by the larger freeway in many neighborhoods around the central business district. Carla Wyatt, County Treasurer, Alexandra Mealer, County Judge All parties were put on notice that the votes would be counted.. r/magic8ball I wish this was a thing and not a dead sub with one post. The state, represented by Lanora Pettit, a principal deputy solicitor general with the Office of Attorney General, acknowledged in her brief that volunteer deputy registrars are not public officials subject to prosecution; the term solicit does not include merely providing information but instead requires strongly urging a voter to fill out an application that was not requested; and the Attorney General is not a proper official to seek civil penalties. If you need to write a similar letter. Still the only voter ID anyone should need. That doesnt change the fact that his filing is trash and should be rejected by SCOTx on the grounds that these people deserve to have their votes counted. But no matter the ultimate outcome, Taylor said, Abbotts political standing will likely remain unaffected. Harris County assumes no liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of errors, omissions or discrepancies. After provisional and mail-in ballots were counted, the incumbent for Harris Countys 180th Criminal State District Court, DaSean Jones, went from trailing Republican Tami Pierce to leading by less than 500 votes, the Houston Chronicle reported. Federal and state law require that ballots be kept secure for 22 months after an election to allow for recounts and challenges a time frame Texas counties have had set in place for decades. Respondents are ordered to provide the Court with a copy of the canvass results, including the separately tabulated later cast votes, as soon as they are available. These losing candidates should move on too.. I maintain as I said yesterday that it is highly unlikely that the 180th Court will be affected. Those ballots were cast after a district court judge ordered Harris County polling places to remain open an extra hour because many locations had opened late that morning. The other challenge is regarding State Representative District 135, which will be heard in the State House of Representatives. Judge Walker is represented by John Raley. See here and here for some background; the story also references the lawsuit filed by Harris County that has been temporarily paused to allow the discussion that led to this agreement. I hope that as long as things are still being worked out theres still room to get assurances and confirmations about the things that Metro has agreed to. We still need to know what all these details are, and I definitely agree that there is room for TxDOT to weasel out on a lot of promises. Currently, Texas has two weeks of early voting before elections, though in 2020 Gov. Name Change, Buy/Sell Thats not how a democratic society works. Its just chaos intended to give a boost to Big Lie enthusiasts, and as the story notes later on, its potentially a conflict of interest for Paxton since he himself is on the ballot this year, and everyone agrees its likely to be a close race. There must be a hearing after notice within ten Attorneys Office, you should contact the former state and federal prosecutors at Oberheiden, P.C. Is it limited to demanding submission of an application for mail-in ballots (whether or not the applicant qualifies) or does it broadly cover the kinds of comments Plaintiffs stated that they wish to make: telling those who are elderly or disabled, for example, that they have the opportunity to apply for mail-in ballots? 18 Cause No. (3) Whether the Texas Attorney General is a proper official to enforce Texas Election Code 31.129. They saw it as a chance to win long-sought relief for people who have suffered from batch plants. Some lawyers travel the country, or even the world, to participate in trials, depositions, arbitrations, and business deals. Harris Countys decision to allow volunteers to transport election records including voted ballots to the countys Central Count location on Election Night is incompatible with the Texas Election Code and violates well-established chain of custody protocols spelled out under Texas law, Texas Secretary of State spokesperson Sam Taylor said in a statement on Friday. As part of the canvass, respondents are ordered to separately identify in the vote tabulations the number of later cast votes for each candidate in each race and for or against each proposition, so that candidates, the parties, and this Court may ascertain whether the later cast votes would be outcome-determinative and so that the parties can assess the extent to which further litigation is warranted. A-Z, Form In at least one race, the provisional ballots could impact the outcome. 1 provision no later than February 14, 2022. I cant tell if this is just using a round number because exact figures are confusing or if this is the exact figure. Houston, Texas, U.S. Kim Ogg is an American lawyer. Vips Application . Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Im disappointed to see another losing candidate challenging the results of their election. 1 priority for the next legislative session that begins in January. The fee cant be lowered due to appearance of impropriety issues. Heres a Twitter thread from Chron reporter Emily Foxhall with more quotes. So our perspective is that those provisional ballots are no different than any other provisional ballots they are to be counted.. One judge whose race is being challenged, David Fleisher, lives in 133. Second, the lawyer will start identifying their objectives and lining up what evidence theyll need to win their case. Hidalgo 612,111 1,095,479 101,400 36,568 Agreements, Letter Earlier on Thursday, County Attorney Christian Menefee filed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Kyle Scott is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. The Justice Department lawsuit was filed in November, and there were three others filed in between. packages, Easy We expect TxDOT to work alongside us to achieve the same. The motion filed today requests a preliminary injunction against the S.B. That would include increasing penalties for those who violate election laws even inadvertently, reducing early voting days and restricting mail-in balloting to only the military, the disabled and people who will be out of the county during the entirety of early voting. The Bell County attorney confirmed last week that a court order there had not been challenged by the Attorney Generals Office or another party. Gov. Forms, Small The Chron has more. Theres already been a lot of time for talk, and I dont know how much latitude TxDOT has to give. Menefee told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday evening that he believes the July 29 order violates the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, which he said grants the governor the power limited authority to suspend laws. This affects no one accused of the most minor, nonviolent offenses who would be stuck in jail because they arent able to pay.. The petition is filed in Harris County, but the case will be heard by a judge from outside the county, according to Menefees office. Not all the things we wanted materialized, but that is compromise, said Harris County Pct. We certainly didnt for Uvalde, or Santa Fe, or El Paso, or any of too many other places to name. Standards and Procedures . Its just illogical to me, and this is a part of the story that nobody talks about.. Theres apparently some talk of a compromise, which would need to happen soon, but Ill believe it when I see it. More than 1 million Texans used vote-by-mail during the 2020 presidential election and more than 850,000 of those ballots came from people 65 and older, according to the Texas Division of Elections. If it was just mismanagement, it was just gross incompetence, wouldnt one think that the lack of paper would apply equally and uniformly across the map, so that there would be roughly an equivalent number of Democratic stronghold precinct neighborhoods as well as Republican precinct stronghold neighborhoods? Taylor said. The pause, approved unanimously by Commissioners Court at a special meeting Monday, instructs County Attorney Christian Menefee to seek a stay on the lawsuit in federal court as he negotiates with TxDOT to resolve differences between the changes the county seeks to the project and the current plan. To Access County Clerk's Forms: (click here Downloadable Clerk's Office Forms) For suggestions or comments regarding this site please email us at webcomments@hctx.net. Thats a new statutory deadline for all judicial fundraising it used to be the case that judges who were involved in lawsuits could continue past that deadline, but the law was changed in the last session, so here we are. Menefee. Highway construction and expansion interrupt lives, displace people from their homes and businesses, and decimate generational wealth, especially in communities of color.. of Sale, Contract Jerry Garcia, Constable Precinct 2 That included an 88-year-old voter whom Morgan would typically call at the start of every year to remind her that she has to reapply for mail-in ballots. Under Hegars calculations, Heaps annualized budget would have been about $48.9 million over 12 months nearly $2.3 million off from the $46.7 million figure calculated by the county. None of the affidavits led to county elections officials removing any names from the voter rolls. I am a bot whose sole purpose is to improve the timeliness and accuracy of responses in this subreddit. 2023-01066; Dan Simons v. Judge Sedrick Walker. Its not like voters were told they couldnt vote or that they had to go home. The debate over law-enforcement funding in Harris County stems from the countys decision to shift its fiscal year and budgeting schedule to start in October instead of March. The Disability and Elder Law Practice Group represents the Harris County Guardianship Program, in which adults are under the supervision of the Harris County Probate Courts. Its not clear to me where things are procedurally with this litigation and remember, there are a bunch of other cases as well but in this matter the Fifth Circuit wanted to get some clarity on state law before doing whatever it has on its docket to do. The reality is that if communication is ignored, the party who received the letter can be fairly certain that they will end up in court. Random fact: In 2020, Democrat Jane Robinson lost her race for Chief Justice of the 14th Court of Appeals by 1,191 votes out over over 2.3 million cast, a margin of 0.06 percent of the vote. Im proud of this outcome settling our lawsuit against JUUL. We have never agreed that these ballots can be part of the final election results, and this afternoon were going to ask that the Texas Supreme Court rule that these late-cast votes should be excluded as Texas law requires.. Call 888-680-1745 for Central Intake with Dr. Nick Oberheiden Letters From The U.S. Attorney's Office Last Updated: 2023-02-04 Oberheiden, P.C. The Fifth Circuit asks the justice to answer whether a volunteer deputy registrar, or VDR, is a public official under the Texas Election Code; whether speech the plaintiffs intend to use constitutes solicitation within the context of the state code; and whether the Texas Attorney General has the power to enforce that code. 7 Cause No. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a temporary hold on a preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of a rule that keeps local election officials from encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots, according to Harris County officials. [Paxtons office wants] to throw a monkey wrench into the operations of vote counting, especially if they think they might lose, and Paxton is in a close race as far as I can tell, said Linda Eads, a professor at Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law and a former deputy attorney general for litigation for the state of Texas. 1 went into effect on December 2, 2021. There may be an opinion in the future that addresses that question.. 95% Success Rate. Guide, Incorporation The court will consider the tax rate again at its next meeting on Oct. 11, potentially forcing the two Republican commissioners to make a similar decision next month if they have not reached a compromise by then. House announced he would bring such a proposal to the board last week. She offered examples of voters she no longer felt she could help navigate the vote-by-mail process. The feds later asked TxDOT to pause other work on the project as well. Andy Taylor, general counsel for the Harris County GOP, is representing Lunceford. See here for the background. The two new agreements, one between TxDOT and the city and another between TxDOT and Harris County, specify the commitments both sides are making. it will not end well for you in the long run. Thats one of many reasons why I plan to do everything I can to protect public health.. You really gonna claim that there were over two thousand of them, and all of them were going to vote for Erin Lunceford? She is the Harris County District Attorney in Texas and assumed office in 2017. The citys press release is here. Given the speed of the appellate process, expect it to be a long time before the next update. judges sued to undo 22 election. What is troubling everybodyand apparently troubling the attorney general who wants to give a definition of solicitation that Im not aware existing in any criminal codeis the absurd result that someone could be held criminally liable for encouraging their fellow citizen to vote, Morales-Doyle said. That has led some community leaders, such as activist and urban planner Abdul Muhammad, to urge federal officials and local opponents to work to find solutions and not reasons to stop the project. This practice group provides general legal services covering law enforcement, public works, community services, road and building construction, park site planning and development, vendor selection and contract development, agreement preparation for design and engineering services, real property transactions, inter-local agreements with other governmental jurisdictions, Public Information Act requirements, open meetings requirements, and the application of state and federal laws and regulations related to HIV/AIDS programs, the medical examiner, parks and library operations, disaster planning, and emergency management services. And theres nothing in the law that prohibits them from being counted, Menefee said. All About Bail Bonds owner Sunya Claiborne, plaintiff in the lawsuit, contends that her business is at stake because the minimum charge requirement is classic price fixing and a per se antitrust violation without any grant of state authority to displace competition, according to court documents. 1 Cause No. Judge Payne is represented by John Raley. Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee announced a settlement of the countys lawsuit against e-cigarette company JUUL Labs, Inc. over claims that JUUL deceptively marketed its products to children. Voters who were in line by 7 p.m. were able to vote normally, while those who arrived between 7 and 8 p.m. were allowed to cast provisional ballots. Hes going to have to weigh all that.. Its going to be Republican versus Republican, Renteria said. an LLC, Incorporate Because the proceedings are still ongoing, it is too soon to know whether the ability to extend voting hours in the future could be impacted. The mayor announced Thursday that Arturo G. Michel is returning to government as City Attorney for the City of Houston. Agreements, Corporate Customer Service provides assistance related to criminal, civil and family cases (causes). Privacy Policy and our Accessibility Statement. The county's position on his determination that the county defunded the Precinct 5 Constable's Office has not changed. Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel indicated there could be more election contests to come. They were discouraged because the lines were long, or because they were told theyd have to wait.. The Republicans did warn us theyd be sore losers. The guardian of the person is authorized to make decisions about health care, living arrangements, and similar matters, but has no authority to expend funds. My Account, Forms in For his part, Berry noted that the county had already been forced to adopt the property tax revenue freeze for its current budget because Commissioners Court was unable to reach a quorum needed to set a tax rate. Cindy Siegel, chairwoman of the Harris County GOP, said officials are impeding on the democratic process. The stay and pause, officials said, would give an opening to officials to work out details of the planned freeway widening without backing off their opposition to what TxDOT is proposing. After closing the polls, election judges will hand off ballots to law enforcement officers and deputized county staffers, who will drive the equipment to the central counting station at NRG Arena on the judges behalf. Ingram said he didnt know the purpose of the provision. Arturo G. MichelDecember 3, 2020 -- Mayor Sylvester Turner has selected a familiar name and a well-respected attorney to join the administration as the City's chief legal counsel and advisor. See here for the background and here for the courts order. Hilton declined to comment on why the office did not ask for the ruling sooner. Additional Losing Candidates File Election Contests in Harris County. Their leadership has known about the Countys election day plans for some time, yet they waited until 6 hours before the polls close to now ask a court to throw the plans out the window and put residents votes at risk, Menefee said in a statement. When the Texas Election Networks canvassing efforts in Sunnyside came to light in early July, County Attorney Christian Menefees office said it was investigating this issue and exploring legal options to protect residents and prevent this from happening again., Asked about the status of the investigation this week, county attorney spokesperson Roxanne Werner said, Although we have not found any further activity by this group, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will take action if appropriate. At this point, we do not anticipate that it impacts the outcome of any races, Harris County First Assistant County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne said. I started writing this post at 8 PM, and as of that time there had been no ruling from SCOTx. There were a half-dozen voting locations within walking distance of my house on Election Day. Its good to be a Commissioner. Voting, Board So there you have it. Facility operators say the plants are safe and need to be close to construction sites. If everybody agrees that the VDR is not a public official, so therefore has no standing, everybody agrees that Ms. Longoria has not indicated any intent to violate in Williamson County, and everybody agrees the attorney general has no enforcement authority , wheres the case or controversy?.
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