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Hi, friends! It’s Natalia, here with the latest election news.

First, make sure you’re registered to vote! The deadline to register is this coming Monday, Oct. 7.

For the past two years, we’ve been covering efforts to upend how elections are conducted in some counties. Right-wing activists have consistently pushed for the elimination of electronic voting equipment and to switch to counting votes by hand — a method that’s been proven to be more costly and far less accurate. 

Officials across Texas counties have voted against hand counting ballots. Though Gillespie County Republicans hand counted more than 8,000 ballots during the primary election, county executives haven’t gotten rid of the electronic tabulators that are used for all other elections. Nevertheless, the activists persisted.

They’ve been especially active in the past few months, taking their hand count training to other counties across the state. They were present at the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas conference], offering a hand count demonstration. The activists recently met with MyPillow CEO and well-known election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell to show him their method.

Election officials in Central, North, and East Texas have all year been hearing from the activists directly or through public comment at commissioners court meetings, where they’re often in attendance.

We’re paying close attention. Although voting and ballot counting won’t be different this November, the reporting we’ve done shows the hand count effort in Texas hasn’t slowed down. It’s a topic that experts told me will likely come up during next year’s legislative session. I’ll be there to walk you through every development.

Have thoughts? If you’re an election official, what’s keeping you up at night leading up to November 5? I want to know!

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