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No, the Texas Secretary of State did not say that thousands of people voted illegally

The Texas secretary of state’s office flagged 95,000 registered voters who the state says counties should consider checking to see whether they are U.S. citizens. This set off a firestorm of misinformation from Gov. Abbott, Ken Paxton, and even Donald Trump—along with some extremely lazy stenography in the media.

Unlike our governor and president, the Texas Tribune appears to be reporting this story with accuracy and an appropriate level of skepticism. Later, NBC News wrote a good piece on Trump’s misleading tweet and the underlying facts.

Other news outlets, including the Austin American-Statesman, fell short, with click-bait headlines that parroted Trump and Abbott’s zealous interpretation.

• KXAN: “Texas: 58K non-US citizens voted in elections over 22 years.”
• Statesman: “58,000 noncitizens may have illegally voted in Texas, officials say”

State Rep. Rafael Anchia further clarified that, because Texas drivers licenses are valid for many years, it’s no surprise that naturalized citizens, who regularly register to vote immediately after their citizenship ceremony and later vote, might be shown as non-citizens in the DPS database.

Actually, that’s not the takeaway. Nor is it about how far back SOS had to go to make this an “issue”. 50K Texans per year are naturalized. Most have DLs. (1x) #TXlege

— Rafael Anchía (@RafaelAnchia) January 26, 2019

Here’s what you can do:

• Write Letters to the Editor to any publication that fails report this story accurately
• Call out politicians who will try to use this data to purge voters, as we have seen in other states
  • Gov. Greg Abbott: (512) 463-1782
  • Attorney General: (Indicted) Ken Paxton: 512-463-2100
• Follow the Texas Civil Rights Project for updates on protecting elections in Texas
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Update: The Statesman changed their headline

Update: The headline on this story was revised to more accurately reflect state officials’ actions and findings.

— Austin Statesman (@statesman) January 28, 2019

How your voices are making a difference

• Pelosi refused to negotiate until Donald reopened the government
• House Dems are opening an investigation into how Jared Kushner got a White House security clearance
• Roger Stone was indicted

Read on, Warriors!

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Congress Critter of the Week: Sen. John Cornyn

Pressure works. Your calls and office visits to end the Trump Shutdown worked. Whether Big John was being entirely honest about call volume is another story, but here are two choice quotes from our senior senator, spaced eight days apart.

Jan. 16: “Not many, not many,” was his response to the Washington Post when asked how many constituent comments his staff is fielding.

Jan. 24: “We’re all hearing from our constituents who are working for no pay,” Cornyn said. “And there’s a parade of horribles of how people who are having to cope with not getting paid, and it’s not good.”

Now we need to let Cornyn know that Americans—including 35,000 federal workers in Texas—will not allow shutdowns to hold us hostage again.

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Support Indivisible Austin

#TXLEGE WATCH

Find out which committees your rep is on

See who represents you in the Texas House and Senate

Both chambers have a variety of committees with a variety of functions. There are three types of legislative committees—substantive, select, and procedural. These committees examine policy issues and generally determine whether or not a bill will get a vote on the floor.

Central Texas Committee Members

Sen. Kirk Watson (Austin)

• Nominations — Vice-Chair
• Education
• Finance
• Higher Education

Sen. Dawn Buckingham (Lakeway)

• Nominations — Chair
• Criminal Justice
• Health & Human Services
• Higher Education

Sen. Charles Schwertner (Georgetown)

• Intergovernmental Relations — Vice-Chair
• Agriculture
• Business & Commerce
• Transportation
• Veteran Affairs & Border Security

Sen. Judith Zaffirini (parts of Hays and Bexar counties)

• Natural Resources & Economic Development — Vice-Chair
• Administration
• Business & Commerce
• State Affairs

Rep. John Bucy

• Culture, Recreation & Tourism
• Elections

Rep. Sheryl Cole

• County Affairs
• Redistricting
• Ways & Means

Rep. Vikki Goodwin

• Homeland Security & Public Safety
• Urban Affairs

Rep. Gina Hinojosa

• Defense & Veterans’ Affairs
• Human Services — Vice-Chair

Rep. Donna Howard

• Appropriations
• Higher Education
• House Administration — Vice-Chair

Rep. Celia Israel

• Elections
• Homeland Security & Public Safety

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez

• Calendars
• State Affairs
• Ways & Means

Rep. James Talarico

• Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
• Public Education

Rep. Erin Zwiener

• Agriculture & Livestock
• Environment Regulation

Read our TXLEGE guide to learn more about why these assignments are so important.

Bookmark Central Texas committee assignments here

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Events

Tuesday Jan. 31

Social Justice Book Club

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Twin Oaks Branch Library, 1800 S 5th St. 512-974-9991.

The Twin Oaks Branch Library is excited to host a social justice book club! This new program series has been curated to encourage all community members to become well informed on critical issues of disparity, inequity, and difference. We hope to challenge the feelings of apathy and fear on important political issues through facilitated dialogue and a facts based approach to civic engagement.

Saturday, Feb. 2

Central Texas Legislative Town Hall

10 a.m. to noon at Westlake High School, Chap Court. 4100 Westbank Dr.

Join State Representatives Donna Howard, Celia Israel, Gina Hinojosa, John Bucy, Sheryl Cole, Erin Zwiener, and Vikki Goodwin from the Central Texas Delegation representing Hays, Travis, and Williamson counties for a town hall.

Questions? Feel free to contact Koby Ahmed.  512-463-0631.

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Your Moment of Zen

Donald didn't know Nancy's game. pic.twitter.com/nJOcJhcMza

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 26, 2019

Funding the Fight

.@JohnCornyn We are here and we are watching – end the shutdown now! With no money for a medieval wall! pic.twitter.com/OIepkGENx4

— Elisa (@elisasaslavsky) January 23, 2019

We Won! … For now.

We called, visited and protested, and after 35 days Trump finally acknowledged the new reality. He can’t govern by tantrum anymore.

The government is open again and 800,000 workers are back on the job, at least for the next three weeks.

In the Trump era, the next big fight is always just around the corner, if it’s not already upon you. Indivisible Austin will help be there to lead the fight, but we REALLY DO NEED your support to be effective. Make your recurring gift today!