The Texas State House Select Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies advanced the Texas legislature’s anti-voter bill, one of the most egregious restrictive voting bills being pushed through Republican state houses nationwide. The bill bans drive-in and 24 hour voting–which at least 127,000 voters used in the 2020 election; sets new, burdensome requirements for absentee voting; restricts campaign activities used to encourage people to vote; gives more power to partisan poll-watchers; and puts harsh penalties on the patriotic Americans who work to run our elections.
“After Texas Democrats so admirably held the line by walking out of the legislature twice to prevent passage of this restrictive voting bill, Texas Republicans are again advancing their anti-voter legislation, one of most un-American restrictive voting proposals nationwide,” said End Citizens United // Let America Vote President Tiffany Muller. “With the Texas legislature set to pass this bill in the coming days, and Governor Abbott expected to sign the bill into law soon after, Congress must step in to protect the freedom to vote in Texas and nationwide. To counteract dangerous, anti-voter laws like the one in Texas, it is crucial that the U.S. Senate passes both the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) immediately, even if it means updating their procedures.”
Texas is already among the most difficult states in the country to vote in. Since the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder that gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Texas has closed at least 750 polling locations, the most of any state. Those closed polling sites were disproportionately in Black and brown neighborhoods. In the 2020 election, Texas ranked 44th in voter turnout out of all 50 states.
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