Ashley Lopez
Ashley Lopez joined KUT in January 2016. She covers politics and health care, and is part of the NPR-Kaiser Health News reporting collaborative. Previously she worked as a reporter at public radio stations in Louisville, Ky.; Miami and Fort Myers, Fla., where she won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.
Ashley was also part of NPR’s Political Reporting Partnership during the 2016 presidential election. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Perhaps most notably, Harris County rejected a whopping 19% percent of the mail ballots it received, or 6,888 ballots in total. Four years ago the county's rejection rate was about 0.3%. -
In Harris County — home to Houston — election officials so far have sent back to voters nearly 38% of mail-in ballots, citing issues with new state ID requirements. -
Ahead of the March primary, local elections officials in Texas are starting to deal with the effects of a new GOP-backed voting law. -
In Texas, it's illegal to get an abortion six weeks after pregnancy. At the Whole Women's Health clinic in Austin, pregnant women arrive for appointments but may not be able to get the care they want.
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Texas grew more than any other state in the last decade. Tasked with adding two congressional districts, some political watchers say redistricting could be a "blood bath" between the state parties. -
A battle over voting restrictions continues in Texas. Arrest warrants have been issued in an effort to bring House Democrats back, after they fled in opposition of a bill they say inhibits voting.
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Only 23% of those pregnant in the U.S. have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, statistics show. And with the delta variant surging, those who are unvaccinated are especially vulnerable. -
While Republicans' legislation includes a provision to give some people more notice of when they aren't legally allowed to vote, the bill also would add new criminal penalties. -
Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas in an effort to block Republican-led restrictive voting legislation from being passed. -
More than 50 Texas lawmakers are camped out in D.C. to block voting restriction legislation and to push lawmakers in Washington to make it harder for states to limit access to the ballot.
