Friends and neighbors –
Such an odd mix of airs – the beauty and hope of Springtime and the gloomy anxiousness of a viral pandemic. I hope the former are helping sustain you through the latter. The Spring sunshine isn’t the main thing sustaining our spirits, though; it’s our common willingness to put – to an extent, and for a while – shared interests above personal interests, as a necessary means to overcome the threats to our health and our economy.
I just got off the phone with a salon. They’re closed. I asked the owner, “Why didn’t you tear up a cease-and-desist order on Facebook?” She said, “Because we decided not to make this about us.” They shut their doors, obtained a federal PPP loan, and continued paying their stylists and their rent. They’re grateful and gracious. The salon will re-open next week.
This experience has been painful and frustrating for everyone, and the burden has not fallen evenly. Thanks to all of you for getting up every day thinking about how your work, your attitudes, and your actions help put us on path to recovery.
Below we share some news from in and around the district, and shine the Policy Spotlight on how we’ll conduct the upcoming elections in the midst of the pandemic.
I look forward to seeing you soon, in person, even if we have to wear masks.
In & around the District in March and April
- We responded to more than 1,500 phone calls and emails from constituents concerning COVID-19 assistance, including employment-related licensing, unemployment benefits, healthcare, to-go alcohol sales, and whether we should be wearing or not wearing masks in public. If you need assistance, you may find a COVID-19 Resource Guide on my website.
- Julie Fine and Gromer Jeffers interviewed me on NBC’s Lone Star Politics, covering the return to work, bottlenecks in jobless claims, and whether we ought to vote-by-mail. You can catch the interview here.
- Lt. Governor Patrick appointed me to the “Jobs and Re-Opening the Economy Senate Workgroup”, where we explore many challenges the state will face in the next legislative session as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our economy and public health will recover over a lengthy time, and the work we do next session will profoundly affect the trajectories of both.
- The Texas Workforce Commission was absolutely overwhelmed by claims and call volumes at large multiples of anything in Texas history. The storm of layoffs created a backlog of unemployment claims. My office has volunteered to help TWC alleviate the backlog, in addition to assisting individual constituents who have struggled with getting their claims processed. To date, the state has processed over 2.2 million claims for unemployment insurance benefits and paid out more than $3.7 billion. My district (SD 16) ranks 7th in the total number of claims filed statewide.
- The Dallas Morning News published my op-ed making the nonpartisan case for Medicaid Expansion in Texas, after which the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce invited me to address the topic with their members. Meanwhile, my Senate colleagues and I wrote a letter to Governor Abbott asking him to expand Medicaid, noting the urgency in the context of this pandemic.
- When Wal-Mart advised us that they wanted to set up two FREE testing centers, one in Carrollton and one in Dallas, we helped ensure a successful opening by coordinating with local officials. You can check your eligibility status and schedule an appointment at DoINeedaCOVID19test.com.
- While I had planned a traditional Town Hall in late March, I held a virtual Town Hall on Facebook Live. If you missed it, you can find it on my Facebook page.
- Jason Whitely and Jason Wheeler talked with me on the podcast Y’all-i-tics about the state’s response to the pandemic.
- As COVID concerns have prevented regular volunteers from being on hand, many non-profit organizations are short-staffed. Anne and I and the kids joined our neighbors to pack food boxes at Aunt Bette’s Food Pantry, a distribution partner with the North Texas Food Bank. They need volunteers to help pack food (they are observing social distancing protocol). For those interested and able, you can sign up to volunteer with the North Texas Food Bank here.
Policy Spotlight: Vote-by-Mail
Texas should join the other 44 states¹ who plan to permit anyone who wants to vote by mail to do so. The most pressing reason for vote-by-mail is, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic, though it’s not the only reason. What kind of election will it be if people are afraid to vote? How will it be better if we have the mail-in ballot option?
The immediate need. Nearly two-thirds of voters say they would be uncomfortable visiting a polling place during the pandemic. Poll workers, meanwhile, are disproportionately vulnerable to the novel coronavirus, as they tend to be elderly (and civically noble) volunteers. Voters should not be asked to choose between their health and exercising their right to vote, nor should elderly poll workers be asked to risk their lives for the chance to serve the public.
Polling places would be less crowded if we could vote by mail – a convenience worth appreciating. Smaller crowds would also make it easier for poll workers to sanitize equipment and ensure proper social distancing. Beyond COVID concerns and convenience, nationwide the vote-by-mail option has generated higher voter turnout, and hasn’t been found to convey advantage to one political party or the other. That in turn supports public confidence in elections.
So what’s stopping us? The law and unfounded skepticism are holding Texas back. Under current Texas law, a mail-in ballot can be obtained only by people who will be out of town, are elderly, or who have a disability. In other words, you have to have a reason to get a ballot. What about the possibility that voting could cause you to contract COVID-19: is that a reason? A Texas state district court has already ruled that because there is no common immunity to COVID-19, we all suffer a “disability” for purposes of the statute. Therefore, the court reasoned, everyone is eligible to vote-by-mail. But our state Attorney General rejects the court’s ruling, and suggests that county officials who adopt the court’s view could be subject to criminal penalties (wow). The Dallas County Commissioners recently resolved to encourage it anyway (wow).
The legal argument may not be resolved in time for the July or November elections. We shouldn’t need to resolve it. The Governor can, and should, use his emergency powers to declare that all citizens may vote-by-mail this year.
Secure elections. It is critically important that people have confidence in the integrity of their elections. Is vote-by-mail secure? Consider that dozens of states, under both Republican and Democratic leadership, have been doing this for many election cycles. They can’t all be cavalier about voter fraud. To the contrary, experience nationwide has shown that if you get a running start, it’s not that hard to run a vote-by-mail program securely. Vote-by-mail systems across the nation are structured so as to reduce the potential for fraud to near zero.² Proven methods include physical ballot drop-off locations, informing voters how to complete and postmark their ballots, cross-referencing of voter rolls, bar codes, and signature verification.
The logistics. It does cost money to print and mail ballots. Fortunately, the CARES Act included election security grants to states for purposes of facilitating vote-by-mail, and the money must be used this year. (Something else that costs money: treating people who caught COVID-19 at the polls.) Money is less the issue than timing. It is essential that the state establish the framework in advance and get the ballots out on time. Last minute scrambles end in shambles. Elections are too precious to risk to foot-dragging.
Everybody benefits. Providing voters the option to cast their ballot by mail increases turnout, and does so without preference to any political party. It also allows for safer polling stations, and greatly reduces the chances that we’ll have insufferably long lines during early voting and on election day. Most importantly, though, encouraging and facilitating a broader turnout bolsters public confidence in the legitimacy of our elections and our government. That is essential during this pandemic.
It is time now for state election officials to get started in earnest preparing for a vote-by-mail election, and for Governor Abbott to clarify that we’re all eligible to vote by mail this year.
¹ As of this writing 37 states allow voters to request absentee ballots simply because they want to vote by mail, and of the 13 remaining states, 7 have signaled they will make an exception for 2020.
² In the 2018 election in Colorado, which conducts elections exclusively by mail, officials found reason to investigate only 0.0027% of ballots cast.
