Texas wins the prize for attempting to suppress the vote

[southernhybrid]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/us/politics/texas-voting-bill.html?action=click&module=In%20Other%20News&pgtype=Homepage

The Republican-led bill, which would toughen already stringent voting rules in Texas, is likely to pass the State House. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign it.

The Republican-controlled Texas State Senate passed a bill early Sunday that would impose a raft of new voting restrictions in the state, moving a step closer to the expected full passage of what would be among the most far-reaching laws in Republicans’ nationwide drive to overhaul elections systems and limit voting.

The bill would tighten what are already some of the country’s strictest voting laws, and it would specifically target balloting methods that were employed for the first time last year by Harris County, home to Houston.

In addition to banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, which were used by nearly 140,000 voters in Harris County during the 2020 election, the bill would prohibit election officials from sending absentee ballots to all voters, regardless of whether they had requested them; ban using tents, garages, mobile units or any temporary structure as a polling location; further limit who could vote absentee; and add new identification requirements for voting by mail.

Partisan poll watchers would also have more access and autonomy under the bill’s provisions, and election officials could be more harshly punished if they make mistakes or otherwise run afoul of election codes and laws.

So, mistakes made by poll workers can be prosecuted! WTF! Why would anyone be willing to put themselves in such a position, since all humans make mistakes at one time or another!

he final 67-page bill, known as S.B. 7, proved to be an amalgamation of two omnibus voting bills that had worked their way through the state’s Legislature. It included many of the provisions originally introduced by Republicans, but lawmakers dropped some of the most stringent ones, like a regulation on the allocation of voting machines that would have led to the closure of polling places in communities of color and a measure that would have permitted partisan poll watchers to record the voting process on video.

Still, the bill includes a provision that could make overturning an election easier. Texas election law had stated that reversing the results of an election because of fraud accusations required proving that illicit votes had actually resulted in a wrongful victory. If the bill passes, the number of fraudulent votes required to do so would simply need to be equal to the winning vote differential; it would not matter for whom the fraudulent votes had been cast.

Democrats and voting rights groups were quick to condemn the bill.

“S.B. 7 is a ruthless piece of legislation,” said Sarah Labowitz, the policy and advocacy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. “It targets voters of color and voters with disabilities, in a state that’s already the most difficult place to vote in the country.”

There's a lot more detail in the link. I've read in another piece that Democrats are planning on challenging some of the parts of the bill in the courts.

How low can Texas and some of the other states go when it comes to trying to suppress the votes of minorities? I told a close Black friend of mine that Republicans see Black people as easy targets because the vast majority vote for Democrats. She understood but she is more determined than ever to vote in every election.

I just hope that the younger members of families like hers will also feel motivated, as voter apathy among the young is a big problem in Georgia. My friend is already worried that her middle aged children, who voted for the first time in their lives last year, will continue to be motivated to vote. My hope is that these obvious attempts to keep Democrats from voting will do the opposite and make people more determined to vote. Everyone should have easy access to voting, including those who don't share my political views.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-voting-restrictions/2021/05/30/51dfa134-c140-11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html

Texas Democrats staged a dramatic walkout in the state House late Sunday night to block passage of a restrictive voting bill that would have been one of the most stringent in the nation, forcing Republicans to abruptly adjourn without taking a vote on the measure.
The surprise move came after impassioned late-night debate and procedural objections about the GOP-backed legislation, which would have made it harder to vote by mail, empowered partisan poll watchers and made it easier to overturn election results. Republicans faced a midnight deadline to approve the measure.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) tweeted that he would add the bill to a special session he plans to call later this year to address legislative redistricting. “Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session,” he wrote.

Maybe the Dems can prevent the passage of this horrible attempt to suppress the vote. Good for them.