ALERT: Texas Republicans caught in BOMBSHELL SCHEME

We have got a story here that garnered. national attention for the worst. reasons. It is the most egregious form. of voter suppression that I have seen. thus far in the election cycle. It's. taking place in Tarant County, Texas. Mark, there are five county. commissioners, three of them. Republicans, two of them Democrats. The. three of the five have voted to restrict. polling places by about a third. They're. looking to shut down 92 polling places. in Tarant County. That's the third. biggest county in Texas. So I have to. ask first and foremost because this has.

garnered a ton of attention and a ton of. anger not just from folks in Taran. County but across the entire country. because it is so shameless. Is there any. recourse as Republicans seek to shut. down all of these polling places? >> Yeah, look I think that there are going. to be a lot of lawyers uh looking at. this and groups looking at this because. it is as you say just a national. disgrace. I mean you know Taran County. is historically a Republican county. it's Fort Worth and the surrounding. area, but in recent election cycles, it.

has become a very swing county. And in. fact, it has leaned slightly blue even. in some elections. It's certainly. trending in in in that direction. So, what you have all of a sudden is the. Republican controlled commissioners. deciding that they now want to cut not. just the number of early voting sites, right? Like I understand it like. Republicans, they tell a lot of lies. about voting by mail. They tell lies. about early voting, but their gold. standard, Brian, the thing that they. tell you and I that we should all be in.

favor of is election day voting, >> right? >> And they want to cut 30% of election day. voting locations. And when you look at, you know, where they want to cut them, they're not like, oh, let's just equally. distribute this pain throughout the the. county. They are targeting Democratic or. perceived Democratic strongholds. And. you know, one of the things that I think. made this story such a national story. and makes it such a disgrace.

is there were people testifying about. this and they were only testifying in. one direction. Like nobody was there to. be like, you know what, >> we need fewer voting opportunities, [laughter] right? >> Everywhere I go, I run into a polling. location. I just wish there were fewer. of them. Like there weren't those. people. Instead, what you had were. citizens engaged in democracy asking. these elected officials, why why. would you reduce the options we have to. cast our ballots in a state that is.

already not an easy state to cast a. ballot? >> I think it's worth noting to your exact. point, you know, one of the locations is. at the University of Texas in Arlington. when you have a college campus, I think. that pretty clearly shows which way. you're trying to uh engage in this voter. suppression in. In another instance, we. have rep uh reverends Ryan Price and. multiple community members specifically. flagged that these cuts would hit. communities of color. So, you have two. demographic groups, young people and. people of color who disproportionately. vote for Democrats who are now seeing uh.

their polling places cut. So, I have to. ask here because I think it's pretty. obvious at that point uh that you have. Trump and national Republicans who are. engaged hellbent on trying to cut. mail-in voting and then you have. Republicans at the state level who are. trying to eliminate polling places. And. so, what message does that send if. you're trying to eliminate every avenue. of voting that people actually have? That they got to find a way to drag Ken. Paxton across the line. I mean, you.

know, I I don't personally believe this. would be going on. if it were not for the fact that James. Telerico is ahead of the polls. >> Yeah. >> Right. I mean, the fact is that that you. know, Republicans were happy to have a. lot of uh in-person uh uh locations uh. in Tyrron County, like I said, when it. was a Republican county, and they were. probably fine with it as long as like it. wasn't going to affect the outcome of. elections. But all of a sudden, now. you're looking at a Senate race in. which, you know, I I'm I'm not going to. prognosticate to say who the favorite. is, but it is certainly a highly.

competitive Senate race. And you may. even have a governor's race. I mean, you. know, I've seen even some right-wing. Republicans say they think they could. lose that governor's race. So, I think. what you have here is the is the. desperation of a party that has lost any. message, has lost any dignity and. self-respect, any commitment to rule of. law and democracy. I mean, Donald Trump, it's not like that those things were. lost in the White House and then. regained down ballot. It's not like we. see a lot of courage among the rank and. file Republicans in this country and.

certainly not in Texas. So I I I ascribe. it to the most obvious thing which is. that, you know, Donald Trump wants to. make it harder for Democrats to vote and. easier for Republicans to cheat. The. that's being implemented through a lot. of ways at the national level. You know, we've we've all you and I have talked. about throughout this series about all. kinds of ways they're doing that, including his executive orders, the US. Postal Service targeting voting by mail, trying to get access to sensitive voter. records, and and the redistricting. fight. I mean, you know, we we recently. did an episode about a big victory that.

Democrats had uh uh in a couple of. states around redistricting, right? Like. like this is all of the same po piece. What's different here is that uh it's so. obvious that they're desperate. Like I. mean like you said to target black. voters and college voters like it's not. really subtle, >> right? It's not like they're looking for. polling locations closest to gun ranges. and that's [laughter] and that's where. they're taking the uh the ballots away. I should note on the point of of. Republicans looking for ways uh to make.

it harder to vote and easier to cheat. That has been something that that you to. your credit have been relentlessly. focused on for years now. uh even when. all of this stuff was being ignored and. continues to be ignored by legacy media. and it's never been more important than. right now as we have about two months. left until midterms. So for anybody. looking to learn more about all of this. news, all uh voting rights and democracy. news in the next two months as we head. toward midterms, there is no better. outlet than Democracy Docket to do so. It's what I use every single day.

virtually exclusively at this point. So. I'm going to put a link to Democracy. Docket right here on the screen and also. in the post description. If you're not. yet subscribed, do yourself a favor and. subscribe. Mark, is there any concern on. your end, and I feel like I know the. answer to this question, but that other. Republicans are going to see what what's. happening at the hands of these three. Republican commissioners in Tarant. County, where they're just saying, "Look, we know that we're not going to. win on the merits, so we might as well. just try and rig the rules of the game. in our favor." and they'll try to. implement similar policies where they.

can just eliminate polling places in. places that are more predisposed to. voting for Democrats as kind of a. lastditch effort to help themselves in. the leadup to to an election where the. national environment is so unfavorable. to Republicans. >> Yeah, I worry about it in Texas, but I. also worry about it nationally. you know. this every so often I get asked by. people in uh you know in real life or. online. you know why is it that Republicans seem. to care about certain things and.

Democrats don't care as much like so for. example I mean you've probably been. asked a thousand times you know why is. it Republicans prioritize the Supreme. Court and the courts and why were. Democrats not prioritizing it in the. same way right one of the things is. Republicans really prioritize the making. it more inconvenient for Democrats to. vote in a way that Democrats don't try. to make it more like they don't ex. in other words Democrats I'm not. suggesting Democrats should make it.

inconvenient for Republicans to vote but. you would think that when Democrats. controlled the process they would like. just absolutely hammer home making sure. that there are poll locations that are. convenient for for all voters and you. know Republicans just focus on this a. lot more so am I worried Yes, I am. worried because it is not just like I. said in this one county in Texas or even. just in Texas. This is something that. Republicans in red counties and blue. states where they control the process in.

red states where you know it's. controlled at the at the statewide. level. Like we run up against this as a. lawyer I run up against this all the. time. I mean a couple of couple of. cycles ago um I had to sue Duchess. County, New York. Now, this is a. Democratic state at Democrat. I'm just. going to bring that up. >> because they weren't bring they weren't. going to put a polling location at. Vasser College. Like, they had to be. sued to put a polling location at Vasser. and we sued and we won. And and like, you know, so I've brought a lot of.

litigation over the years. Years ago, I. I sued Florida to put early voting. centers on uh the big university. campuses. Uh but I I think we need an an. adjustment in the Democratic mindset. moving forward that this is a place. where they need to be just much more. aggressive. >> Right. I mean I think that the Democrats. are more predisposed to just being on. defense and fighting back against these. efforts to to undermine the right to. vote. But there are a lot of places that. Democrats have full control and there is.

much less of an inclination to go on. offense. I mean look, the state that I. live in in California has automatic. voter registration. we have as much time. uh in the leadup to an election to vote. We give a ton of time in the aftermath. for ballots to actually come in, which. by the way is going to be especially. important as Donald Trump continues to. mess with USPS and mail ballots. But. there are a lot of states that don't do. that. And in fact, there are a lot of. states that continue to practice good. governance as if they're operating in a. vacuum and not the broader national. environment. I mean, you and I have. spoken at length about the fact that I.

spoke with the governor of Colorado, Jared Polus, and pushed him on redrawing. his state's maps, and he was absolutely. not interested because he wanted to stay. in a different era, a bygone era, where. you just practice good government and. hope that it's reciprocated. And of. course, it's not. But I think until. Democrats start to adopt this mentality. and understand the broader national. environment that we're operating in, we're going to continue to just fight. back, you know, push back against these. uh against these offensive efforts by.

Republicans and never take offensive. steps ourselves. >> Yeah. And I, you know, I want to flag. one of the things you said which I think. is exactly right. So, you know, there's. just a New York Times article that said. uh that the US mails are slow and. they're slower and that there'll be a. lot of ballots that arrive late and that. that's worrying people. Okay, that's. basically the summary of the article. And you know, my immediate reaction was, why don't a bunch of blue states adopt. the policy that California has adopted.

of counting ballots that are postmarked. by election day that come in, you know, not a day or two afterwards, but you. know, five or six days later, like like. it's not like there isn't a solution to. this problem. And there are a number of. completely Democratic run states like. Democratic legislators, Democratic. supermajorities and legislatores, Democratic governors that still have. election day deadlines that still reject. ballots that are postmarked by election. day if they are received even one day. afterwards. And I'm left asking myself.

like why? Like like you can lament the. fact that the postal service is slow, but you can actually do something about. it. California's also got a law that. allows third-party ballot collection, right? It means that that people can go. doortodoor. You know, a union can go to. its members and and and or have a. dropbox and say, "Put your ballots here. and we'll deliver them." You know, Native American reservation on Native. American reservations where there's no. mail. This is a lifeline. And. Republicans try to cut this off in.

states like they I've litigated against. them where they tried to do away with. this. If you have a lack of of of mail. service or or or a question about mail. service, increase the number of. dropboxes, right? Encourage the private. sector. You know, ask Walmart and and. and you know, gas stations or or. 7-Elevens to put their own secure metal. containers. You know, maybe the state. pays for it uh to make sure they're. really secure. But there but you just. don't see the innovative efforts that go.

into this on the pro-democracy. democratic states in the same way that. you see Republicans always trying to. find the latest angle to undermine free. and fair elections. >> Yeah. And and look, frankly, that kind. of creativity is desperately needed and. that's why your voice is especially. important and unique in this ecosystem. Um, so again for those who are watching. right now to elevate Mark's voice and to. support the work that he's doing on the. front lines in court right now. I mean. you Mark's law firm is 23 and0 against.

the DOJ in their efforts to get our. sensitive voter data sent to the federal. government. That's on top of the overall. 87 cases that his firm is litigating. right now. So a small step that. everybody can take to elevate his voice. and support his work right now is to. subscribe to Democracy Docket. That link. is right here on the screen and also in. the post description of this video. And. of course to see more episodes of. Democracy Watch between Mark and myself, that link to subscribe to this channel. is on the screen as well. I'm Brian. Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. [music].