Muslims in Texas seek greater political influence ahead of US midterm elections

WASHINGTON: Mosques in Houston are doubling as voter registration centres ahead of the Nov 3 midterms , and local Muslim leaders say they are helping sign up around 1,000 voters a week. The drive in Texas’s metropolis follows the Republican-majority State Board of Education’s approval of a new social studies curriculum that Muslim advocates say portrays Islam unfairly. The contentious high school curriculum, for instance, requires students to learn that “radical Islam” motivated the 9/11 attacks instead of focusing on the terrorist groups involved. But supporters of the new curriculum defend…