AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — After a lengthy debate on Tuesday, the Texas Senate voted to pass Republicans’ omnibus voting reforms legislation.
Senate Bill 1 is a resurrected version of Senate Bill 7, the controversial voting bill that was killed during the final hours of the regular session when House Democrats broke quorum and left the capitol. The bill is now headed for the House of Representatives, but due to another walkout of House Democrats, the bill is likely to stall.
Republican lawmakers acted quickly to get voting legislation filed on the first day of the special legislative session last Thursday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the session for lawmakers to address several issues, including passing an “election integrity” bill.
Senate Bill 1 hosts several provisions that were present in the regular session’s Senate Bill 7. The bill would ban innovations implemented by Texas’ largest county, Harris County, such as 24-hour and drive-through voting; these measures intended to increase turnout and limit voters’ exposure to COVID-19.
The law also adds new ID requirements for people requesting a vote-by-mail ballot application and bans election officials from offering vote-by-mail applications to voters who did not initially request one. Another returning provision from Senate Bill 7 expands poll watchers’ observational duties, giving them the right to see and hear all interactions at a polling location.
Some of the less controversial provisions in the bill would extend the hours a polling location can operate and allow voters to rectify contested mail-in ballots that bear inconsistent signatures.
Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives have introduced their own election legislation in House Bill 3. Their version is nearly identical to the Senate’s bill, differing only in the hours a polling location may operate.
Unified in their opposition to SB 1, Texas Democrats have filed legislation to allow for online voter registration, expand access to mail-in-voting and make Election Day a state holiday.
State Sen. Bryan Hughes, Republican of Mineola, authored Senate Bill 1 and says the legislation will “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”
As Hughes brought the bill before the Senate, he defended his legislation against accusations of it being voter suppression and creating Jim Crow-era restrictions. He said that the outrage against the bill exists because of Democrats and the media spreading falsehoods about Senate Bill 1.
The state senator said that the conversation around the bill included “false [notions] about what is and what is not in the bill.”
“Would the people of Texas be concerned about what they heard? I bet they would. If they had seen what was in the bill, they would wonder what that was all about,” Hughes said during the debate.
Absent in the Senate on Tuesday were nine Democratic senators who joined their House counterparts in Washington, D.C., to protest the very legislation up for consideration. Only four Democratic senators showed up to the Senate floor on Tuesday.
Democratic Sen. John Whitmire of Houston and Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo spoke there in opposition to SB 1.
Speaking directly to the bill’s author, Whitmire told Hughes that he wanted the author to help him “expose your bill.”
“I can speak for millions who do not have issues [with the voting process] and your questioning repeatedly our election process and it would concern me, and at some point, I think we are already seeing a lack of confidence in some of our election processes,” said Whitmire.
Sen. Zaffirini, through pointed questioning of Hughes, gave her concern for how poll watchers could play a role in making polling locations less safe and more combative.
“Does this concern you at all, since watchers are partisan and that is their purpose for being there, and there are sensitive materials at polling places?” Zaffirini asked Hughes.
He responded that there are separate rules that limit a watcher’s movement within a location and the bill’s purpose is to ensure watchers “cannot be cloistered off in the corner and not being allowed to do their jobs.”
Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt of Katy came to the support of the bill and Sen. Hughes.
“We should be telling the truth about the bill because the bill itself has no poll watcher negative intent,” Bettencourt said.
Bettencourt later filed an amendment that would create a manual for poll watchers so they are aware of their rights and abilities. The amendment was adopted to the bill, but it did not go as far as Democrats wanted: they sought required training for all poll watchers before they enter polling locations.
With SB 1 now passed by the Senate, it heads to the House of Representatives, where the bill will be stalled for the foreseeable future. This is because the House may only take up new bills, vote on bills, or refer bills to committees when a quorum is present.
Early Tuesday, House Republicans did take action and voted to allow Texas law enforcement to arrest the absent Democrats and bring them back to Austin. This move only works, however, if the Democrats were within the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott spoke to Austin’s ABC affiliate, KVUE, and vowed to take action to see that the issues he called the legislature back for are addressed.
“I can and I will continue to call special session after special session after special session, all the way up until Election Day next year. … As soon as they come back to the state of Texas, they will be arrested and they will be cabined inside the Texas capitol until they get their job done,” said Abbott.
While in Washington, D.C., Democrats will continue lobbying efforts from earlier in the summer to press Congress for federal voting rights legislation.
Enough Democrats to deny a quorum have promised to remain out of the state until August 7, the end of the special session.
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