9.2.2026: GOP Protests Mosque Voting Locations

Our Take

Texas Scorecard's rundown this week jumps from mosque-polling-place protests to a quick hit with Rep. Keith Self on "Islam and the Surveillance State," then pivots to precious metals law and a Planned Parenthood fraud suit. It's a grab-bag news roundup, credit to the Texas Scorecard team for packaging the week's local politics, but the surveillance-state line jumped out at us because it's a phrase politicians love to invoke selectively.

Here's the thing: whoever gets painted as the surveillance threat in a given news cycle, the actual infrastructure doing the watching keeps expanding on autopilot. Flock Safety's ALPR cameras get installed by local city councils and sheriffs across red counties and blue counties alike, logging every plate that passes regardless of the driver's politics or faith. The "surveillance state" isn't a culture-war talking point reserved for one group's polling place, it's a network of cameras bought with tax dollars and largely free of the warrant requirements and oversight that would make Americans across the spectrum comfortable.

If lawmakers want to talk seriously about surveillance, the conversation should start with what's already bolted to poles in their own districts. Check our camera map to see what's tracking you locally, and visit take action for ways to push back regardless of which party runs your town.