Ashley Lopez
Ashley Lopez joined KUT in January 2016. She covers politics and health care, and is part of the NPR-Kaiser Health News reporting collaborative. Previously she worked as a reporter at public radio stations in Louisville, Ky.; Miami and Fort Myers, Fla., where she won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.
Ashley was also part of NPR’s Political Reporting Partnership during the 2016 presidential election. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Perhaps most notably, Harris County rejected a whopping 19% percent of the mail ballots it received, or 6,888 ballots in total. Four years ago the county's rejection rate was about 0.3%.
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In Harris County — home to Houston — election officials so far have sent back to voters nearly 38% of mail-in ballots, citing issues with new state ID requirements.
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Ahead of the March primary, local elections officials in Texas are starting to deal with the effects of a new GOP-backed voting law.
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At the same time, in Texas, an increasing number of counties are rethinking who should run elections altogether.
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The U.S. Department of Justice claims the Texas law contains several provisions that "will disenfranchise eligible Texas citizens who seek to exercise their right to vote."
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The groups sent lawmakers a letter ahead of a hearing for House Bill 6, which expands the role of "poll watchers" and creates a new set of criminal offenses related to voting. The bill is a priority for Republican leaders in the state.
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Texas has lifted its mask mandate and is opening up restaurants and other venues to full capacity. Frontline workers in the state do not have priority access to vaccines and many say they're nervous.
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An NPR analysis of COVID-19 vaccination sites in major cities across the Southern U.S. reveals a racial disparity, with most sites located in whiter neighborhoods.
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Several officials in Austin pushed back on Texas' initial COVID-19 vaccination plan, which would've put just nine of the city's 65 vaccination sites on the lower-income and more diverse east side.
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In 2021, states will redraw voting district lines to redistribute political power. In many places, the fight over where lines fall is expected to be bitter and partisan.
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In a big blow for the party, Texas Democrats were unable to flip nine state House seats they had hoped would give their party the majority this election season.
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Texas Democrats were hoping to flip six congressional seats and nine Texas House seats this election, while pulling off a close presidential race in the state. So far, it looks like none of that happened.