Latest news with #TexasElection
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas secretary of state draws ballot order for 17 Constitutional Amendments
AUSTIN (KXAN)— Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Wednesday drew the ballot order for 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution that will appear on the Nov. 4 election ballot, marking the most constitutional amendments on a single election date since 2003. Nelson conducted the drawing at 11 a.m. in her office at the Texas Capitol, where she randomly assigned proposition numbers to each constitutional amendment the Legislature passed during the 2025 session. The 17 amendments cover a wide range of policy areas, including property tax exemptions, parental rights, citizenship voting requirements, tax prohibitions, dementia research funding and judicial reforms. The Texas Legislature required a two-thirds vote in both chambers to refer each amendment to the ballot. Nelson drew the following propositions that will appear on the November ballot: The Legislature placed the most constitutional amendments on a Texas ballot for a single election date since 2003. Since Texas adopted its constitution in 1876, voters have decided on 712 statewide ballot measures—all constitutional amendments. Early voting for the constitutional amendment election will begin in October, with Election Day set for Nov. 4, 2025. More information about voting requirements and polling locations will be available at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
23-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Former Astronaut Launches Texas Senate Run by Hitting Both Parties
Terry Virts, a retired NASA astronaut, is not a household name, even in his home of Houston. But the way he announced his campaign on Monday for Senator John Cornyn's seat in Texas, taking a swing at both political parties, may be blazing a trail for Democratic candidates in 2026. Mr. Virts' official announcement video was revealing in two ways. It reflected the growing hunger among Democratic outsiders to take on President Trump. And it underscored how such outsiders believe the best way to do that is to also take on the Democratic leaders in Washington. 'Trump's chaos must be stopped,' Mr. Virts said in the video. 'But leadership is M.I.A.,' he added over an image of the Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York. Mr. Virts, who describes himself as a 'common sense Democrat,' emphasized the point in a telephone interview on Monday. 'The Texas senator should not work for the senator from New York,' he said. 'I'm going to work for Texas voters.' He said he was willing to break with the national party on issues such as immigration, which he says he supports only if it is legal. 'The Democratic Party, for some inexplicable reason, gaslit us and told everybody that, 'Hey, this illegal immigration is OK,' and voters knew that it wasn't,' he said. Democrats in Texas, who have not won statewide office since the 1990s, have become hopeful about their chances in 2026, particularly if Mr. Cornyn is defeated in the Republican primary next year by the state's hard-right attorney general, Ken Paxton. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas governor makes it 'crystal clear' only U.S. citizens can vote in state elections
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation on Monday which he said makes it "crystal clear" that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in elections in his state. "I just signed off on a joint resolution to make it crystal clear under the Texas Constitution that if you are not a citizen of the United States of America, you are not allowed to vote in Texas," the governor said in a video posted to X. Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell, a Republican, introduced Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 37 in January, and in the resolution, he proposed a constitutional amendment clarifying that voters in Texas elections must be citizens of the U.S. Prior to the resolution, the constitution prohibited people who are under the age of 18, along with those who were determined mentally incompetent by a court or who were convicted of a felony, from voting in elections. Trump Signs Executive Order Requiring Proof Of Citizenship In Federal Elections: 'An Honor To Sign This One' But the amendment proposes adding a line to the classes of people who "shall not be allowed to vote" in Texas, which reads, "persons who are not citizens of the United States." Read On The Fox News App Birdwell's joint resolution was approved by the state senate in April, then by the state house in May. Abbott signed the joint resolution on Monday, but it still has one more step. In fact, Texas citizens will have the final say in November on whether the state constitution can be ratified to include the requirement in the state constitution. Trump's Executive Order On Voting Blocked By Federal Judge Amid Flurry Of Legal Setbacks Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott's and Birdwell's offices for comment. Last month, a federal judge blocked an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that would require documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted. Judge Blocks Trump Election Order Despite Overwhelming American Support For Voter Id The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship. The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to "assess" the individual's citizenship status before doing so. "Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections. Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order," Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee, wrote in her order. "No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress's deliberative process by executive order." Meanwhile, 25 states, including Texas, are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which is tracking such legislation. In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting. Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this article source: Texas governor makes it 'crystal clear' only U.S. citizens can vote in state elections
Fox News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Texas governor makes it 'crystal clear' only U.S. citizens can vote in state elections
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation on Monday which he said makes it "crystal clear" that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in elections in his state. "I just signed off on a joint resolution to make it crystal clear under the Texas Constitution that if you are not a citizen of the United States of America, you are not allowed to vote in Texas," the governor said in a video posted to X. Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell, a Republican, introduced Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 37 in January, and in the resolution, he proposed a constitutional amendment clarifying that voters in Texas elections must be citizens of the U.S. Prior to the resolution, the constitution prohibited people who are under the age of 18, along with those who were determined mentally incompetent by a court or who were convicted of a felony, from voting in elections. But the amendment proposes adding a line to the classes of people who "shall not be allowed to vote" in Texas, which reads, "persons who are not citizens of the United States." Birdwell's joint resolution was approved by the state senate in April, then by the state house in May. Abbott signed the joint resolution on Monday, but it still has one more step. In fact, Texas citizens will have the final say in November on whether the state constitution can be ratified to include the requirement in the state constitution. Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott's and Birdwell's offices for comment. Last month, a federal judge blocked an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that would require documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted. The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship. The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to "assess" the individual's citizenship status before doing so. "Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections. Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order," Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee, wrote in her order. "No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress's deliberative process by executive order." Meanwhile, 25 states, including Texas, are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which is tracking such legislation. In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting.
