Ballot drop sites
The fate of Governor Abbott’s order closing all ballot drop sites but one per county is now in the hands of the Texas Supreme Court. We could have a decision on that as soon as today. It was the central division of the Anti Defamation League that filed suit challenging Governor Abbott’s order that closed dozens of ballot drop sites around the state. Cheryl Drazin says they submitted their legal argument to the governor’s order to the state’s highest court on Monday.
“The governor had exceeded his emergency powers by having issued this mandate to reduce the number of boxes to one per county. That wasn’t within his discretion to do,” says Drazin.
Governor Abbott says he closed the drop sites to ensure ballot security.
High voter turnout
Speaking of early voting, both Hays and Williamson County have surpassed the total number of votes cast in the 2016 election with just early voting. Both counties have seen just under 50% turnout of total registered voters so far, just in the early voting period. With four days left in early voting and then election day yet to come, Travis County could break the 600,000 mark in early voting if this trend continues. So far, 51% of registered voters in Travis County have cast early ballots. Early voting ends Friday evening.
The Texas Army National Guard says it will not dispatch troops to the polls in several cities on election day following a San Antonio Express news report that it would. Major General Tracy Norris says that any activation would be for post election support and not for Election Day. The report said troops would be dispatched to several cities, including Austin, as soon as this weekend. But, Norris says that isn’t the case.
Project Connect with Austin FC
Cap Metro staff released some new ideas for Project Connect rail stations. The plan is for the Austin FC stadium on McKalla Place to get a railway station on the Red Line. Capital Metro’s Sharmila Mukherjee says they’ve been teaming up with the MLS team.
“So design has recently been initiated for McKalla station. We’re coordinating with Austin FC on design and special event management. Most specifically, we’re understanding the programming needs that are going to go into the design process,” Mukherjee says.
As the project moves forward on red line improvements as a whole, they are looking for ways to expedite the delivery of a railway stop at McKalla Place.
Justice Amy Coney Barret
Senator Ted Cruz is celebrating the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett last night to the U S Supreme Court.
“President Donald Trump delivered on one of the central promises he made to the American people. To nominate principled constitutionalists to the U S Supreme Court,” says Cruz.
Cruz says her confirmation is a victory for the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-10-27-20
