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    "parsed_content": "Why top Texas election denier Ken Paxton could cause chaos if he loses his Senate race\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Plus, Trump\u2019s conspiracists keep leaving after failing to prove fraud.\u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f 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\u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \n\u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u2007\u034f \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \u00ad \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Friday, October 2\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n A note from the editor\n \n \n \nEight more states begin early voting next week, and 11 the following week. And over 800,000 votes have already been recorded nationwide. As Legal Research Director Dave O\u2019Brien said in our morning staff meeting, \u201cThe election is here, people. The election is now.\u201d\n\u00a0\nImagine if we learned that over 360,000 noncitizens had voted in the last election (they didn\u2019t). You\u2019d never hear about anything else from the GOP \u2014 and much of the media. But Reporter Jim Saksa revealed in a fascinating deep-dive this week that\u2019s how many voters were likely disenfranchised because their mail ballots were rejected over minor technical issues likely having no bearing on eligibility. Until there\u2019s as much concern about that as there is about a tiny number of illegal votes, those on the pro-voting side are going to be fighting an uphill battle.\n\u00a0\nAlso: Senior Reporter Matt Cohen took a look at all the election deniers President Donald Trump hired to find 2020 election fraud who have since resigned after utterly failing in their mission. And Reporter Jen Rice dug into the single GOP candidate perhaps best placed to cause election chaos if he loses this fall (hint: he\u2019s running in Texas).\n\u00a0\nThanks for reading.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nSally Holtgrieve \u00b7 Senior Editor, News and Operations\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n DATA \nA few noncitizen votes are a scandal. But thousands of rejected ballots are business as usual\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n By Jim Saksa \n \u00b7 Reporter\n \n \n \n When New Jersey announced in July that a voter registration snafu had allowed fewer than 400 noncitizens to vote since 2023, the response from Republicans \u2014 and much of the political press \u2014 was apoplectic.\n\u00a0\nBut a Democracy Docket analysis found that over 72,000 mail ballots were rejected across just six states during the 2026 primaries over technical issues. And more than 360,000 ballots nationwide were tossed for similar issues in the 2024 general election.\n\u00a0\nThe impact on the fairness of election outcomes is no different when a valid voter is disenfranchised as when an illegal vote is counted. But unlike New Jersey\u2019s far less consequential error, the issue has spurred no headlines or investigations, no calls for new legislation, and no impassioned denunciations from lawmakers.\n\u00a0\nIt\u2019s time to change that imbalance.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BEHIND THE STORY\n \n \n \n Sally: After working with all this data, what stands out to you?Jim: How many ticky-tack reasons some election officials have for tossing out votes. In the Louisiana primaries this year, for example, they spiked 46 ballots because the voter forgot to write down their mother\u2019s maiden name on the back of the return envelope.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \u27a4 Dive into the numbers\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nADMINISTRATION \nTrump hired them to prove election conspiracies. They all left without finding anything\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n By Matt Cohen \u00b7 Senior Reporter\n \n \n \n It\u2019s October, Halloween is coming, and I can\u2019t think of anything more frightening than the enormous federal resources that Trump has directed to try to prove that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. (OK, maybe \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d or \u201cThe Exorcist\u201d are scarier \u2014 but at least those are only movies).\n\u00a0\nLuckily, the horror show that is the Trump administration\u2019s effort to find mass voter fraud and relitigate the 2020 election has fallen flat. With all the chaos and noise Trump and his allies are creating around the midterms, it\u2019s easy to forget that the election deniers are losing.\n\u00a0\nBut this week was a good reminder: Not one, but two Trump administration officials tasked at least in part with proving 2020 voter conspiracies abruptly resigned \u2014 and both quit without proving anything. First was Kurt Olsen, a hardcore Trump loyalist who led a special White House task force probing 2020 election conspiracies, then moved to the Department of Justice.\n\u00a0\nThe other was Andrew Bailey, a former Missouri attorney general and avowed election denier, who was the FBI's co-deputy director and helped lead the bureau\u2019s raid on a Fulton County, Georgia election hub earlier this year.\n\u00a0\nThey\u2019re the latest in a string of resignations of administration appointees who were brought in to prove 2020 election conspiracy theories, or indict the president\u2019s political enemies, and utterly failed to do so. Nearly half a dozen election deniers recently resigned \u2014 and there\u2019s still no evidence that the 2020 election was rigged.\n \u27a4 Maybe this horror story has a happy ending?\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Check out our members-only section of the website and explore premium newsletters from Marc and the Democracy Docket team.\n \n \n \n \n EXPLORE PREMIUM CONTENT\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nELECTIONS \nWhy top Texas election denier Ken Paxton could cause chaos if he loses his Senate race\n \n \n \n \n \n \n By Jen Rice\n \u00b7 Reporter\n \n \n \n We don\u2019t have a crystal ball to tell us who will win the Texas Senate race this year. But with James Talarico* consistently leading Ken Paxton in the polls, it\u2019s time to talk about what happens if Paxton loses and doesn\u2019t accept the results.\n\u00a0\nThe issue is, Paxton isn\u2019t your average GOP election denier candidate \u2014 he\u2019s also the Texas attorney general, and state law gives him some unique powers he could weaponize in his own race.\n\u00a0\nWe checked in with a bunch of Texas legal experts for this story, and here are the main takeaways: First, Paxton has destructive election interference tools at his disposal, and he\u2019s proven his willingness to use them. Second, experts have confidence that state and federal courts are up to the task of protecting the will of the voters.\n\u00a0\nIn the story, we\u2019ve explained some of the reasons why legal experts agree Paxton is a particularly large red flag for democracy. But the point isn\u2019t to panic \u2014 it\u2019s to be informed about the risks, pay attention to the processes as they\u2019re unfolding and help support the many safeguards that protect our votes.\n\u00a0\nDisclosure: The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the Talarico campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.\n \u27a4 What if Paxton won\u2019t accept results?\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Odds and ends\n \u27a4 South Carolina voters with disabilities lose key mail voting challenge\n\u27a4 Could Trump take over voting by declaring a \u2018national emergency\u2019?\n\u27a4 Judge greenlights challenge to Louisiana anti-voting law, citing discrimination claims\n\u27a4 GOP trained Wisconsin election observers to target voting machines in pivotal swing state\n\u00a0\n\u27a4 DOJ now 0-26 after judge rejects demand for Georgia voter rolls \n\u27a4 GOP lawyer seeks to disenfranchise \u2018albino unicorn\u2019 overseas voters\n Slack message of the week\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n What you can do\nThe midterms are getting closer by the day. Are there any postcard writing events near you? Rallies you want to attend? Ways you want your fellow pro-democracy readers to get involved? We want to hear from you! Just add it to this (very easy to fill out) form. The submissions will be posted to our new Bulletin Board for Democracy Docket members to see.\n\u00a0\n\u27a4 Help other readers get involved\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n QUESTION OF THE WEEK\n \n \n \n It\u2019s spooky season! What\u2019s scarier?\u00a0\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n WAITING FOR ELECTION RESULTS\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n EXPLAINING THE PURCELL PRINCIPLE TO YOUR FAMILY\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Today's newsletter was edited by Zachary Roth and produced by Leila Fusenig. Learn more about our staff here.",
    "author_name": "Jen Rice",
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    "section": "ELECTIONS",
    "publisher": "Democracy Docket",
    "ai_headline": "Why top Texas election denier Ken Paxton could cause chaos if he loses his Senate race",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Ken Paxton Could Cause Chaos If He Loses Texas Senate Race",
    "ai_excerpt": "This article discusses the potential for chaos if Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a prominent election denier, loses his Senate race and refuses to accept the results. It highlights his unique powers as AG and the legal experts' confidence in state and federal courts to protect voters' will. The piece also touches on other election-related news, including rejected mail ballots and failed attempts to prove 2020 election fraud.",
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