By Todd Lassa
Democratic state lawmakers must return to Texas from Washington, D.C., sooner or later and face Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat to have them arrested. Abbott promises to extend special sessions of the Texas legislature in order to force a vote.
The Democrats’ swift departure to avoid a quorum for a special session of the bi-cameral state legislature drew added attention to the U.S. Congress’ For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which will require Democrats in the US Senate to end the legislative filibuster too late to help pass them.
Like Georgia’s new voting laws, the Texas proposals – SB 1 in the Senate and HB 3 in the House of Representatives – are high-profile for acceding to former President Trump’s untrue claim that Electoral College votes in these states were “stolen” from him in last November’s election. But the states also have encouragement from the eight-year-old Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which essentially removed Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and this year’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, which guts its Section 2.
According to The Texas Tribune, Republican state lawmakers see SB1 and HB3 as “starting points” for a new electoral bill to which the 67 (of 200) Democratic state representatives could contribute, if only they would come home.
The two bills’ key provisions:
•Require a monthly review of the state’s massive voter rolls (Texas’ total population is 29 million) to identify possible non-citizens and prevent them from voting.
•Ban drive-through voting (which Harris County offered in 2020).
•Impose new regulations for early voting hours.
•Ban 24-hour voting (another Harris County initiative).
•HB 3 requires a maximum election day window of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., while SB1 proposes 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
•Both bills add an extra hour of required early voting hours for local elections, for a nine-hour window.
•Lowers the population threshold for counties required to provide at least 12 hours early voting. Currently, counties with population of at least 100,000 are required to provide early voting; SB1 would require the early voting standard for counties of at least 30,000 population, while HR3 would require the standard for counties of at least 55,000.
•Both bills would add one weekend hour of voting, to require six hours of weekend voting. The state Senate and House have retreated from proposed restrictions on Sunday voting, known as “souls to the polls,” at Black-majority churches.
•A ban on unsolicited distribution of mail-in ballots – the House version would make it a state felony subject to a jail term, and both HB3 and S1 would prohibit state funds to “facilitate” unsolicited distribution of applications by third parties. These proposals are a direct response to Harris County’s attempt to “proactively” send mail-in apps to all of its 2.4 million registered voters last year, the Tribune reports.
•New ID rules that would require voters to provide their driver’s license numbers, or if they don’t have one, social security numbers, on ballot applications, with matching information on the return envelopes for their ballots.
•New correction process for ballots normally rejected because of a missing signature or an endorsement a local review board determines does not belong to the voter who returned the ballot (this appears to be a concession to Democrats, the Tribunenotes).
•Monthly citizenship checks of the state’s voter rolls to identify non-citizens, requiring the Texas secretary of state’s office to compare the statewide voter registration list with data from the Department of Public Safety to pinpoint individuals who told the department they were not citizens when they obtained or renewed their driver’s license or ID card.
•The “Crystal Mason provision” in HB 3 would require judges to inform potential voters if a conviction prohibits an individual from voting and would require proof beyond a provisional ballot for an attempt to cast an illegal vote to count as a crime. Crystal Mason was on supervised release for a federal conviction when she cast a provisional ballot in 2016 and said she did not know her conviction made her ineligible to vote. This is another apparent concession to Democrats.
•Language to strengthen the autonomy of partisan poll watchers by granting “free movement” within a polling place, except for being present at a voting station when a voter is filling out his or her ballot. Both HB3 and S1 would make it a criminal offense to obstruct their view or distance the observer “in manner that would make observation not reasonably effective.”