Emily Eby French

it is incredibly telling and unfortunate that every single publication seems hell-bent on punishing WB for giving a successful black director money for an original movie, even if it's actually going over well. and that's something the industry should examine but of course they will not

@3severaldays.bsky.social ARE YOU OKAY

Your show tonight is getting me through a very long day fighting for voting rights at the Texas legislature! Thanks for coming to Texas 😀

Biden got more popular votes from Texans than he did from New Yorkers in 2020! The power and money favor the entrenched statewide officials, but local Texas voters have picked great folks like Christian Menefee, James Talarico, Molly Cook, and many others.

Senate floor just wrapped so I have to run back over to State Affairs soon. Bless the House Elections Committee for hearing this bill first so I only have to be in one place at once

Adkins says that any unique number on the ballot creates a risk to ballot secrecy, but how you treat the number makes all the difference. AKA: you can have a unique number and maintain voter privacy, but it takes a lot of thoughtfulness re: redacting.

Topic now is

SOS Director of Elections Christina Adkins is talking to Vice Chair Bucy now. She clears up a question I had: if a person votes provisionally in person and the county also receives a mail ballot from them, the county is supposed to throw out the mail vote and keep the in-person one

quote-tweeting myself, no reason bsky.app/profile/emil...

There's a lot of discussion about ballot secrecy today. Here's (part of) why... www.texastribune.org/2024/05/29/t...

A woman I don't usually agree with is testifying now, saying that a unique identifier on the ballot would help voters who originally wanted to vote by mail but then change their mind and come in person. That's a pretty good point tbh!

I testified against HB 952, which would put a "unique identifier" on mail-in ballots. I like the idea, but I think I need more detail in the bill to make sure that mail-in voters won't be disenfranchised! My full testimony:

a man in a suit and white shirt is running in a dark room ALT: a man in a suit and white shirt is running in a dark room

Okay I switched over to House Elections because it's the first of many double hearing days so I'll be going back and forth

Oh my god, this witness against the bill is a survivor of a school shooting in the early 2000s. She was actually shot with one of these guns! I'm so impressed with her for being here and getting through that.

They've already said that they need to make a new time of gun super-extra-legal so that their children can practice shooting with it

You can watch here but I wouldn't recommend it senate.texas.gov/videoplayer....

Okay I'm back on my livetweeting game and it's Senate State Affairs up first today so you know what that means...

That's the last witness!! Shaheen says they're hearing bills next week so tune in same time next Thursday for more livetweeting and likely testimony!

Rogers says they don't have countywide polling, but they "strongly support" it! They've worked on Hall's SB 1475, which requires continuing education for elections workers

Laura Rogers is the legislative chair for the County and District Clerks Association. She runs elections in Sherman County, which is v small! Only 12 election judges and four polling places on Election Day.

Now Swanson is doing "Last time on House Elections Committee" and it's like WE KNOW

Toth and Swanson talking about 2022 Harris County ballot paper

ES&S says that the TX SOS tested their new software yesterday and they're hoping for a recertification "in the next couple of weeks"

Swanson says that "we saw on TV people are counting ballots over and over again" bestie what channel are you watching

Her first real Q was "how do we make sure you're not sending us the wrong machines" so that's on me for hoping for something substantive I guess

Cold day in hell I guess because Swanson is asking questions of a witness and I hope they're tough! If you're making election software that counties are buying with taxpayer money, it damn well better work

Wlaschin says they've given the TX SOS a new version of the software that malfunctioned in Nov. 2024, and they hope it will be recertified

Wlaschin says the state of Texas elections can be explained in four words: secure, accurate, transparent, and auditable

Texas counties left scrambling after critical election equipment loses its certification Texas decertified a widely used electronic pollbook after problems in November. Will a fix arrive in time for the next election?

Now it's Christopher Wlaschin for another voting machine vendor, ES&S. His questions might be a little tougher because ES&S epollbooks are currently decertified in TX www.texastribune.org/2025/01/28/t...

if you know you know