Election officials acknowledge holes in ballot secrecy

During a Texas House Election Committee hearing last week, election officials acknowledged holes in election laws that have exposed some ballots cast by Texas voters to public scrutiny, The Dallas Morning News reported.
A group of activists suing the Texas secretary of state claim they have created an algorithm that can match any voter to an anonymous ballot, though their legal filing redacted details on how their hack of ballot security works.
The secretary of state’s office, which oversees the state’s elections, has sent guidance to county election officials on how to adopt procedures to ensure ballots available for public inspection are scrubbed of any identifying information, The News reported.
“Every Texan has the right to a secret ballot, and that right must remain sacred. It is unacceptable for any voter to have their ballot choices publicized,” Secretary of State Jane Nelson said. “I am issuing emergency guidance to protect the privacy of Texas voters.”
Far fewer migrants being bused out of state
While Gov. Greg Abbott insists he intends to keep busing migrants to cities led by Democratic mayors outside Texas, there has been a dramatic drop in the past six months, the Chronicle reported.
In the last half of 2023, the governor’s busing program sent about 77,000 migrants to six U.S. cities with Democratic mayors. That number over the past six months has dropped to about 17,000 amidst court cases and more aggressive efforts by Mexico to stop migrants from getting to Texas.
Abbott’s office declined to comment on the dropping busing numbers.
Since 2021, the state has spent $11 billion on Operation Lone Star in an attempt to stem the tide of migrant arrivals, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The GOP chair of the Senate Border Security Committee has questioned how long Texans will be asked to bear the cost for the operation.
“How long can we do this?” Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, who has chaired the Border Security Committee since its inception in 2023, asked officials in charge of oversight of the border initiative.
Drought conditions ease slightly while heat dome returns
Drought conditions across the state dropped a percentage point in May compared to the previous month, with 26% of the state in some stage of drought, primarily in West and South Texas and parts of the Panhandle.
Massive storms in late April and into May caused flooding and wind damage in East and North Texas but did pull those regions out of drought. Some parts of Central and East Texas received three times their average rainfall in May, according to Mark Wentzel, hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board.
A heat dome, which is a high-pressure system that traps heat and keeps it sticking around, is making its way across the state. It has already heated the waters of the Gulf of Mexico to about the same temperatures as last year, according to a report in the Texas Standard.
The heat dome is also driving up temperatures on land. San Antonio last week saw a record heat index of 117 degrees. Some South Texas cities are already seeing heat temperatures broken, and not just by a small amount.