The desk · Austin
Election news, without the noise.
Local, state, and federal officials — what they voted, what they take, what they said.
Texas · The Legislature
How a roll call is printed in Austin
House and Senate journals record the names. A floor vote is not a press release. It is a list.
Austin · Local
City Council, in one page
Ten districts, a mayor, published agendas. How the dais is built — and where a voter looks before a meeting.
On the desk
Local · State · Federal
Federal · Explainer
How to read a House roll call
Yea, nay, present, not voting. The clerk’s list is the vote. Everything else is commentary.
Donors
Where campaign money shows up on the form
Itemized receipts, disbursements, the committee that files. How to read a disclosure without inventing a scandal.
How voting works
The packet is the story
Consent, regular, executive session. Most of a city meeting is already written down. Read it first.
State · Campaign finance
Texas reports, not rumors
State filings sit in a different system than federal ones. Same idea: who gave, who spent, what was disclosed.
Records
The clerk’s list is the vote.
A roll call is a name next to a position. We explain how to read the clerk’s list — House, Senate, and the city dais — not how to feel about it. Campaign money is the same discipline: the line on the form, not the screenshot.
Read the explainer