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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"Good job, everybody!" says Shaheen, adjourning the hearing. Thanks for following along!

Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Adkins emphasizes that this is not a "state takeover," but an attempt to help counties do what they need to do for their voters. I agree that THIS SOS office is not taking over counties... but I think the law allows for more tyrannical regime to overcome local control.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The other topic is SOS working with Val Verde County voter registration. A recent law allows the SOS to take oversight of an elections office that fails an audit, with the goal of remediation. www.texastribune.org/2026/06/12/t...

texastribune.org

Texas takes over Val Verde County voter administration

The secretary of state is using a law that was originally written to focus on problems in Harris County.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Texas monitors election threats online! We have a vendor who specifically protects our state and counties' systems. Adkins (wisely) declines to talk about specific threats in such a public forum.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Now we're on to the committee's evaluation and accountability for the Secretary of State's office. The first topic Adkins is going over is the money the SOS got for online threat monitoring.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A lot of folks talking about cutting Sunday hours. Legislators want to help cut costs for rural counties, but it's important to balance that with Souls to the Polls initiatives. The Black church often drives huge turnout on Sunday. theconversation.com/the-black-ch...

theconversation.com

The Black Church has been getting ‘souls to the polls’ for more than 60 years

From the civil rights era to the 2020 election, Black Churches have been at the forefront of encouraging voter registration – and fighting voter suppression.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Not quite 10 minutes, but I'm back! Public testimony going on SB 2753. Kind of surprising how bipartisan this idea is.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Taking a quick livetweet break. Watch video here while I'm gone! house.texas.gov/videos/22742

static.klipy.com

Back In Ten Minutes Sign

ALT: Back In Ten Minutes Sign

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Phillips also notes the issues caused by separate primaries (meaning that Rs and Ds don't share polling places etc.). If everyone had to do joint primaries, life would be a lot easier for all Texans. See: Wilco/Dallas primary chaos www.kut.org/politics/202...

kut.org

‘Cannot be repeated’: Why was Williamson County's March 3 primary so chaotic?

It's been a month since the election. Here’s what happened in Williamson County to cause so much confusion and frustration among voters.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Frank Phillips, Elections Admin for Denton County (let's go 940). He is advocating for requiring countywide polling places statewide!!!!!!!! That's huge: Denton is one of the biggest TX counties that doesn't do CWPP.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Chair Shaheen does a classic Jim Halpert look ("I'm going to become really unpopular here") before suggesting local taxes should be able to cover election costs, without supplemental $$ from the state. Swanson counters that the lege keeps limiting how much counties can raise taxes.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Bucy notes that there will be some counting four days before Election Day in big counties and starting at 7AM on Election Day in small counties, but it will be significantly less/later than in previous years. Plesa and Shaheen add that prediction markets might go nuts with this change.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Rogers also makes a great point about a mental shift for voters: we're used to seeing Early Voting returns over that weekend. Now, counties will have to count Early Voting and Election Day together. We will have less advance visibility into who is "winning" a race under SB 2753.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Now Laura Rogers again for Sherman County (and rural counties more generally). She wears a LOT of hats as a Clerk in a small county, and adding work to the Elections side will cost the other statutory duties to suffer.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Swanson apologizes for the headaches they have caused Harris County (again, momentous for 2021 Rememberers). Hudspeth confirms that they have 200 full-time staffers, and she anticipates doubling that under SB 2753.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Today Hudspeth says that SB 2753 could raise the cost of a big election in a big county by nearly 30% (!!!) and a small election in a big county by nearly 9%. Staffing, facilities, and more.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Now Teneshia Hudspeth, the County Clerk who runs elections in Harris County (Houston)! For those who were around the lege in 2021, it's low-key momentous to hear testimony from a Harris County Election Official 😅

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Hate to lose a valuable customer for an inaccurate reason

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Doinoff also recommends starting this process during a smaller constitutional election, to allow counties to get some of the kinks out when turnout (and pressure) is lower. Another smart rec.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Doinoff also says they're going to need a tonnnn of public education on changing the voting period. I strongly agree!

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Jennifer Doinoff from Hays County is noting that this move is going to cost counties a lot of money, including: -More staff to do work during voting that existing staff usually does during the break -Polling locations, since many churches won't be able to host voters on a Sunday -More poll workers

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Me trying to livetweet from the lege vs. me at home with all my drinks and screens

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Noting that this could cause some changes to polling places. Some counties will need more locations. Others will cut locations to be able to afford that second weekend. Keep an eye on your county! Over the next years, we'll fight to keep open the locations your community needs.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Vice Chair @bucyfortexas.bsky.social notes that this change is a big bipartisan win for Texas voters. He adds that he is open to hearing issues from testimony today, but a second weekend of Early Voting will be great for everybody.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Expectedly, Adkins says her working group of election officials unanimously voted that we are NOT ready to move to continuous voting this year. Chair Shaheen emphatically states that there is no problem with a delay till next year. Better to do it right than to do it fast.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Adkins says that SB 2753 is causing smaller precinct-based counties to want to move to countywide. Especially notable because the author of 2753 (Bob Hall) also authored the unpopular-and-killed-in-committee ban on Countywide Voting. www.kltv.com/2025/03/21/s...

kltv.com

Sen. Hall’s bill to eliminate countywide voting hotly debated in committee

County wide polling became a big topic of debate at a Senate committee meeting today, as Senate Bill 76 was up for discussion.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Adkins's testimony is really interesting. There are so many differences between Early Voting and Election Day that I never really thought about. They're staffed differently and some counties will go from countywide voting to precinct-based voting overnight.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

This bill was passed after a lot of back-and-forth between author Bob Hall and Texas election officials. The compromise was: we'll do it, but we need some time to get ready. www.votebeat.org/texas/2025/0...

votebeat.org

New early voting schedule will offer Texans more weekend time to cast ballots

Some election officials are worried that the change in recently passed legislation will eliminate a cherished three-day break for election workers.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

First up is Christina Adkins, Elections Director at the Secretary of State's office. They're leading a group to get counties ready to switch from [11-12 days of Early Voting starting on a Monday, 3-day break, then Election Day] to [12 days of Early Voting starting on a Thursday, then Election Day]!

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The video feed is live here. I was planning to watch it in person today, but the baseball cap and sweatpants spoke to me like the Green Goblin and told me I can livetweet from home 👹 house.texas.gov/videos/22742

house.texas.gov

Texas House of Representatives

Texas House of Representatives provides information on legislation, committees, sessions, and the Texas House

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It's Day 2 of the House Elections Interim hearing. Today's topics are SB 2753, which will eventually give Texans a second weekend of Early Voting, and lege oversight of the SOS's office. Yesterday's thread here:

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Sorry guys, I clearly lost steam after (or maybe just before) I testified yesterday 😅 Here's my written testimony on protecting Texas voters from AI!

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Election denier talking about "recently declassified information showing that our electronic pollbooks are vulnerable to attack" 🙄 very convenient that somebody who already wanted us to use paper check-in has received information requiring that we revert to paper check-in

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Cates is now talking about the influence that prediction markets could have on elections. I am VERY worried about prediction markets and elections! This story says more: www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

nbcnews.com

Election officials fear prediction markets will fuel distrust in the midterms

As they prepare to administer this fall’s elections, state officials worry the rise of betting will make their jobs more difficult.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Cates is talking about some of the AI disclosure laws in other states, including Florida, Utah, Michigan, Tennessee, and New York. He also notes that a federal executive order established a DOJ AI task force that will sue states with AI laws the Trump admin finds "onerous."

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Texas had one of the first laws in the US prohibiting deepfakes within 30 days of the election (passed in 2019). The law only regulates videos, so we should add audio and images at the very least. codes.findlaw.com/tx/election-...

codes.findlaw.com

Texas Election Code - ELEC § 255.004 | FindLaw

Texas Election Code ELEC TX ELECTION Section 255.004. Read the code on FindLaw

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Concluded testimony on voter registration! Moving on to technology in elections. First up is Andrew Cates, a legislative attorney/lobbyist who specializes in campaign law. He's here to talk about AI and deepfake laws in Texas, as well as election prediction markets.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Boy it really is true that you can tell who hates Dems by who says "Democrat Party" as opposed to "Democratic Party"

Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Swanson just said "the longer it takes to get those ballots in, the more opportunity for fraud because, you know, those ballots are in suitcases under tables..." Large Texas counties are livestreaming video of those "suitcases," y'all. Long time to count does not equal fraud.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Adkins notes that Texas is so big that we have people who share a first name, last name, AND birth date. She says we even have people who share the last four numbers of their SSNs! It's important to be meticulous when you're dealing with someone's sacred right to vote.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Swanson now asking about ELLY and Psephos, which seem like the new election denier tools for purging voter rolls. Adkins says they rely on strong government sources when they try to match voters for crosscheck purposes.

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Adkins adds an answer to Swanson's question from earlier: 57% of Texas voters live in an "offline" county. Swanson says that's lower than she thought!

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I spent so much time preparing my testimony for today and I'm honestly a little jealous of the people who get up there and simply make up conspiracy-based numbers off the dome

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

A lot of people talking about ELLY and I'm getting that pit in my stomach when I can tell that a conspiracy theory is about to be a big part of my work life

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Veronikah Warms for @txcivilrights.bsky.social shares stories of voters with disabilities who have found themselves unable to vote a regular ballot or receive a mail ballot thanks to the aforementioned TEAM issues. 🚨🚨

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

A different election integrity lady is saying that one of the great things about her organization is that they AREN'T trying to go after election officials and get them fired. The lady maybe hath never heard of doth protesting too much

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

A woman from an "election integrity" org says she is using a system called "ELLIE" (sp?) to kick dead people off the rolls. She admits that none of the dead people have voted... sounds like election integrity to me!

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Somebody just said that he had made technological modifications to his own body (???) before announcing his candidacy for governor of Texas and demanding paper ballots. This state truly is a rich tapestry

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Emily Eby French @emilyebytx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Trey Grayson, a GOP former Kentucky Secretary of State, testifies that the vast majority of states now have online voter registration, which greatly increases the accuracy of voter rolls! Grayson says that OVR is cheaper and less error-prone than a piece of paper.

static.klipy.com

So Whats The Hold Up: Carole Brown's Reaction

ALT: So Whats The Hold Up: Carole Brown's Reaction

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