AUSTIN, Texas — A video from Hood County Democratic Party Chair Adrienne Quinn Martin gained more than 41,000 views on TikTok in late July. The video highlights the lack of an online voter registration process in Texas. It shows the Texas Secretary of State’s online form where applicants can fill out their information and press submit. 

Martin says she made the video because she got several calls in 2020 from voters who thought they were registered, waited in line to vote, and were turned away.  

Online registration is only available if renewing a driver’s license, as Texas Republicans have shot down efforts to expand the online application to all prospective voters for nearly a decade. Texas is one of seven states that do not have online voter registration, so the website can be misleading. 

“I went on all seven websites and none of them had the kind of deceptive form like Texas. And Texas was absolutely the biggest one of them,” said Martin. 

Nearly one week after Martin’s video got popular, she posted a second video showing that the Secretary of State changed its form.

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, Alicia Pierce, says they updated the button to “add clarity to the process,” adding that the “office helps facilitate voter registration multiple ways, including providing an online application form Texans can, print, sign and mail.” 

“Every eligible voter has the right to cast a ballot,” said Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson. 

But ultimately counties are responsible for their own voter registration administration. It’s why hundreds of election officials flocked to Austin Tuesday to prepare for November’s election. 

“Talk to other counties and how they do their stuff to give us good ideas in what we do,” said Sheila Houston with Jasper County. 

Part of the collaboration includes ways to store the paper registration information. Casey McClellan’s company, ECM Today, digitally stores data for 10 Texas counties. A juxtaposition to the voter registration process, but McClellan says it’s just as secure.

“There are many layers of security that have to be proven in order for a document to be stored,” said McClellan. 

Martin still believes online registration should be allowed in the state. 

“Texas is too big of a state to be this far behind in technology that we’re still having to have paper to register to vote,” she said. 

Voters can check their registration status or find an application to register on VoteTexas.gov. The last day to register to vote for the November election is Oct. 7.

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin man was sentenced to a dozen years in prison for stalking and child pornography.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 41-year-old Cody Brownlow pleaded guilty in May and received his punishment in a St. Louis federal court on Tuesday, August 13.

The investigation into Brownlow began in 2022 after he sent threatening and vulgar phone messages to an ex-girlfriend and her adult daughter. Some of those messages included files containing child pornography. 

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Two other ex-girlfriends, and one of the woman’s new boyfriend, said they experienced the exact same type of harassment.

A May 2023 raid of Brownlow’s Austin home resulted in the seizure of his electronics. On those devices, authorities found thousands of images of child sexual abuse and several videos.

Brownlow was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

AUSTIN — Texas Longhorns men’s basketball has reportedly secured its matchup for the first game of the 2024 Legends Classic this upcoming season.

According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, the Longhorns will play the Syracuse Orange in the first game of the 2024 Legends Classic at the Barclays Center this fall. The Texas Tech Red Raiders will face off against St. Joe’s in the other matchup, meaning Texas and Texas Tech could be set for a rivalry reunion as non-conference foes should thet both win their first game.

The 2024 Legends Classic will begin on Thursday, Nov. 21 in Brooklyn. Despite Rothstein’s report, matchups and game times have not yet been made official.

Per Texas Athletics,the Longhornswill make their fourth appearance in the Legends Classic. The team played in the inaugural event in 2007 and competed in the tournament during the 2011 and 2016 seasons. Texas won the Legends Classic in 2007 after taking down the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game.

Texas has played Syracuse just once all-time, and it happened on one of the biggest stages in sports.

The Orange took down the burnt orange 95-84 in the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans, as Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead Syracuse to the National Championship, where they won it all two days later.

Legendary Texas guard T.J. Ford scored 12 points and dished out a game-high 13 assists in the loss. Longhorns great Royal Ivey had four points and four assists while Brandon Mouton led Texas with 25 points.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry was an assistant under Rick Barnes during that Final Four run, and he’ll get a chance at some slight revenge over 20 years later.

Syracuse is coming off of its first year without legendary coach Jim Boeheim, who had been at the helm since the start of the 1976-77 season. The Orange put together a solid 20-12 campaign in the first year under head coach Adrian Autry, but missed the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

This offseason, Texas changed up the roster with multiple transfer additions, as Oregon State’s Jordan Pope, Arkansas’s Tramon Mark, Kansas State’s Arthur Kaluma, Vanderbilt’s Malike Presley and Indiana State duo Julian Larry and Jayson Kent all head into their first year with the team. Chendall Weaver and Kadin Shedrick are the notable key returners while Devon Pryor will look to take a step forward as a sophomore. Ze’Rik Onyema, Cole Bott and Preston Clark will fill out the bottom of the roster.

The Longhorns begin the regular season in Las Vegas against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Hall of Fame Series on Monday, Nov. 4