Primary elections begin: On March 1, Texas voters picked their nominees for the 2022 primary elections. During the primary elections, voters choose Republican (R) or Democratic (D) candidates before the 2022 midterm elections in November for governor, attorney general, congressional seats and more. Early voting began Feb. 14 and ended Feb. 25, but as of Friday, only 10% of the population chose to vote early, leaving much of the voting for March 1. The primary candidates include Greg Abbott (R) and Beto O’Rourke (D) for governor, Dan Patrick (R) and Mike Collier (D) for lieutenant governor and Ken Paxton (R ), George P. Bush (R) and Rochelle Garza (D) for attorney general. Nominees include House Districts, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, Agriculture Commissioner, Railroad Commissioner and more.
Significance: This is the first election cycle under Texas’ new voting law, which bans drive-through and 24-hour voting and makes it a felony for election officials to send mail-in ballot applications to voters who haven’t requested them. Voters who request and cast absentee ballots must submit either their Texas ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to vote by mail. As a result, Texans are seeing a low turnout as thousands of mail-in ballots have been rejected across the state. Republicans say the new law makes the state’s elections more secure, but Democrats believe it makes voting more difficult for minority voters to cast their ballots.
Screen Actors Guild Awards: On Feb. 27, the 2022 Screen Actor Guild Awards took place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Screen Actors Guild Awards are accolades granted by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie and prime-time television. Some of the winners include Jung Ho-yeon for her role in “Squid Games” and Will Smith in the movie “King Richard.” The movie “No Time to Die” won the Outstanding Action Performance by Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture award. The other nominees included “Dune,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Other memorable shows and movies that did not win their respective awards were “Yellowstone,” “Tick, Tick… Boom,” “House of Gucci” and “Don’t Look Up.”
Significance: The SAG awards are one of many awards shows during this spring season. The 79th Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2021 with a private ceremony on Jan. 9, this year, in Beverly Hills. Upcoming award shows include the Critics’ Choice Awards on March 13, the Oscars on March 27, the Grammys on April 3 and the Billboard Music Awards on May 15. The rewards allow global recognition for individuals in entertainment.
