Daily Briefing: Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today for the November general election, according to the Texas Secretary of State. The state’s early voting records show 7,711,255 ballots cast in person and by mail through October 30, or 40.5 percent of 19,041,684 registered voters. The Texian Partisan is following the count on its Texas election night desk.

Comptroller Don Huffines reported net state sales tax revenue of $4.8 billion in October, 13.3 percent above October 2025 and the second straight month of double-digit growth, according to the comptroller’s office. Collections from construction rose 38 percent and from manufacturing 33 percent, gains the release says may reflect large projects, including data centers.

Gov. Greg Abbott renewed the New World screwworm disaster declaration for all Texas counties, the governor’s office announced Monday. The proclamation, signed November 1, keeps every order issued under the original June 5 declaration in force.

A Fifth Circuit panel heard argument Monday from two Chinese citizens who say Senate Bill 17, the Texas land law that took effect in September 2025, unconstitutionally blocks their further purchases of Texas real estate, Courthouse News reported. Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod asked whether the state has any interest in who owns land within its borders, the outlet reported.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied the Justice Department’s emergency request to force California to set aside mail ballots from about 20,000 people the administration alleges are noncitizens, CBS News reported. The one-line, unsigned order carried no noted dissents.

An advisory panel’s new electoral map, released Monday, restores two rural ridings and extends some Calgary ridings and three Lethbridge ridings into surrounding rural areas, CBC News reported. Retired Court of Appeal Justice Brian O’Ferrall wrote that the proposals “are not unconstitutional,” while the panel’s two-member minority warned that “the courts are likely to become involved.” Alberta’s Official Opposition has said they will challenge the map in court.

A Hong Kong court will sentence activist Joshua Wong on Thursday in his second national security case, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the judiciary’s website. Wong pleaded guilty in September to colluding with foreign forces, an offense punishable by life imprisonment if a court finds it of a “serious nature.”

Two Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) county teams have public events on the calendar this week: Caldwell County volunteers hold a clipboarding event Friday, November 6, at Lockhart City Hall in Lockhart, according to the Caldwell listing, and the Llano County team staffs an information table Saturday, November 7, on the Llano Courthouse Square, according to the Llano listing.