Texas 2020 elections: Harris County Democrats' headquarters vandalized

The headquarters of the Harris County Democratic Party were vandalized on Monday, the party said in a news release.

"Election No, Revolution Yes," was spray-painted onto the party's office windows along with a sickle and hammer, a symbol first used during the communist Russian Revolution. The building's locks were also filled with super glue, according to the release, preventing officials from entering the office.

"This is what happens when Republicans are losing," said Lillie Schechter, Harris County Democratic Party Chair, in a statement. "They use scare tactics and intimidation to scare voters."

Identical messages were reported overnight in Pennsylvania. Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle's office and Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell's house were both vandalized, according to Twitter posts and a report by CBS Pittsburgh. - Shawn Mulcahy

Texas on track for record voter turnout

As of 5 a.m. Monday, more than 9.7 million Texans cast ballots during the early voting period that ended Friday, crushing previous early voting totals in the state and setting Texas on a course for record turnout in Tuesday's general election.

At least 9,718,648 voters cast early ballots, according to preliminary final numbers released by the Texas Secretary of State on Sunday. That is 57.3% of registered voters, just 2 percentage points shy of the overall turnout of 59.4% in 2016. Of those early votes, 8,745,565 were cast in person; 973,083 were cast by mail.

Early voting, which Gov. Greg Abbott extended by six days this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, has already eclipsed total votes during the 2016 general election, when 8,969,226 Texans voted.

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