GOP pursues harsher penalties for poll workers in voting crackdown
By Nick Corasaniti New York Times,Updated May 16, 2021, 1 hour ago
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Isabel Longoria, election administrator for Harris County, Texas, posed at the elections warehouse in Houston.MICHAEL STARGHILL JR./NYT
AUSTIN, Texas â Anita Phillips has been an election judge in Texas for 17 years, responsible for managing a precinct in Waco, a city of roughly 135,000 people. But over the last four years, the civic duty she prized has become arduous. Harassment by partisan poll watchers has grown increasingly caustic, she has found, and helping voters is ever more treacherous amid a thicket of new rules.
More than 600 Harvard affiliates signed an open letter asking University President Lawrence S. Bacow to designate federal Election Days as instruction-free âDemocracy Daysâ that would offer a holiday to employees and students and provide civic engagement programming.
The letter, which has been signed by more than 400 current students and nearly 150 faculty and staff members, comes after petitions in the fall unsuccessfully lobbied Bacow to designate Election Day as a University holiday.
Nearly 50 campus organizations and more than 60 alumni â including former Board of Overseers President Michael H. Brown â83 and former Institute of Politics Director C. M. Trey Grayson â94 â also signed onto the letter.
Analysis: Mississippi early voting needs veto-proof support seattlepi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from seattlepi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Top Central Mass. political newsmakers of 2020: Region offers collective and loud voice
This week, the Telegram & Gazette looks back at some of the top Central Mass. newsmakers of 2020 in sports, education, entertainment, politics, business, health care, social justice and religion.
The year in local politics seemed quieter than usual in Worcester County. Down-ballot races were significantly overshadowed by the presidential election. More than in most years.
While the buzz around the many state House and Senate races was tempered in the months leading up to the election, there was plenty of activity when the focus shifted to voters. Whether voting by mail or at the polls, residents of the region offered a collective voice that was particularly loud.