Monday, October 19, 2015

2015 Texas Constitutional Amendments

Resolutions proposing changes to the state constitution must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of both the Texas House and the Texas Senate. Texas voters then have the opportunity to approve the amendments with a majority vote. The following identifies proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution to appear on the November 3 ballot. This article on constitutional amendment resolutions approved by the 84th Texas Legislature was originally published when the 84th Legislature adjourned on June 1, 2015, and was updated on June 17, 2015 when the Texas Secretary of State published the proposition order for the constitutional amendment ballot:

Voter Registration and I.D. Requirements


by Michael Handley

CLICK HERE To go to information on the December 2015 renewal mailing of 2016-17 Voter Registration Certificates, and to stay current on the status of Texas' voter photo ID law in the federal courts.

VOTER REGISTRATION 2014-15 -- You MUST be registered to vote in the county in which you currently reside, and have a currently dated government issued photo I.D., to vote in any Texas election. You must be registered, or have mailed your registration application to be postmarked, no later than midnight of  the thirtieth day before the election date. And you must present I.D. at the polling place to vote in person.
NOTE: On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously agreed with U.S. Southern District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos' October 2014 finding that Texas’ SB14 photo voter ID law has a discriminatory effect on black and Latino voters, and therefore violates section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Fifth Circuit did not throw out the SB14 law entirely.

The three-judge appellate court panel remanded the case back to Judge Ramos with an order to fashion a specific legal remedy that recognizes legislators' declared interest to preventing voter fraud in passing the SB14 law. The voter ID law remains in effect, as of October 19, 2015, pending action by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Required voter I.D. is listed below.
Every registered Texas voter should have received their new 2014-15 orange Voter Registration Card (VRC), mailed during the first part of January 2014, or within thirty days after you submitted your registration application. If you asked to register to vote while updating your driver's license with the Texas DPS, and you never received a VRC, your registration application may not have been processed.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Blog Talking The Democratic Presidential Debate


We invite you to Blog Talk the first Democratic Primary Debate with us Tuesday, October 13, 2015, at 9:30pm CT.

We will be LIVE with BlogTalkUSA Eyes Wide Open Post Debate Roundtable discussion immediately following the first Democratic Presidential Primary Debate and we want YOU to join us!

Call (347) 855-8118 to listen LIVE, share your opinions, or join the discussion!

(We will delay our regular Tuesday "Eyes Wide Open" BlogTalkUSA radio program to start at the conclusion of the debate.)

Archive of selected Talking The Talk On Internet Talk Radio

Texas Replaces So. Carolina As Post New Hampshire Make or Break Primary


Updated Tuesday, October 13, 2016 @ 8:22 AM.

As usual, media political pundits are applying what they remember from past primary schedules to the 2016 primary schedule. So they are focused on the South Carolina primary being the big swing decision factor for 2016. But 2016 is different and Texas, not South Carolina, is the big prize primary, after Iowa and New Hampshire.

In 2008, Iowa Democrats caucused on January 3rd. The 2008 New Hampshire primary followed on Jan. 8, with South Carolina Democrats voting on Jan. 26th and Florida Democrats voting on Jan. 29th. That made SC and FL the key post NH swing decision stories in 2008, leading into the 23 state and territory primaries and caucuses held on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5th.

Another 13 states held their primaries and caucuses during February 2008. Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island held their primary on Tuesday, March 4, 2008.

The 2016 primary season kicks off a month later than in 2008.  Iowa precinct caucuses will allocate 46 pledged delegates on Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 and the New Hampshire primary will allocate 24 pledged delegates on Tuesday, Feb. 9th.

Texas primary early voting starts on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 and runs through Friday, February 26, 2016. The 2016 South Carolina Democratic Primary date is currently set for Saturday, Feb 27th, the day after Texas early voting concludes. Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina will allocate 121 pledged presidential delegates.

Texas is the big post Iowa and New Hampshire prize on Super Tuesday with Texas Democrats selecting 237 delegates, including super delegates, for largest single delegate count of any state up to and including the other super Tuesday states.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

‘Level the Playing Field’ Democratic Strategy


In May the Roosevelt Institute released its Rewriting the Rules economic agenda crafted by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Since the report's well publicized release, the Roosevelt Institute partnered with Democracy Corps to determine whether its Rewriting the Rules analysis and recommendations translate to political policy messaging objectives.

The public policy research conducted through this partnership tests policies Roosevelt Institute economists believe would re-balance the economy by producing broadly shared economic growth. This research finds the public embraces a 'Level the Playing Field' policy agenda, and rejects the conservative ‘Trickle Down’ economic agenda.

‘Level the Playing Field’ progressive messaging, is electorally compelling. It gets a stronger and more intense response than conservative ‘Trickle Down’ messaging. It leads the disengaged to be more engaged, particularly audiences of the newly emerging 21st century American majority. It also produces much stronger results than Democratic main-stream identity issue messaging strategy - that is silent on inequality.

'Level the Playing Field' progressive messaging seeks an economy that works to stop the toxic influence of corporate money, and seeks to level the playing field for all so we can build and strengthen the middle class by restoring the American promise of equality and opportunity. Level the Playing Field messaging performs dramatically better than traditional Democratic identity politics messaging with self-identified Democrats and, the critical swing group, white working class voters. It is more motivating for Millennials, and it performs equally well with independents.

The final and most important result is the re-engagement of the disengaged. At the end of the survey, the big ideological debate, the bold policies, and competing progressive and conservative messages energized the emerging 21st century American Electorate of racial minorities, unmarried women and Millennials who could comprise 55 percent of the voters in 2016 - if they are motivated to turnout to vote.

Public Now Rejects Trickle-Down Economics, Seeks Inclusive Growth