By Bryan Williams
Legislators walking out of their duty is no new thing. It has happened before in Oregon (where it was the GOP who walked out in order to stymy legislative work), and Republicans in the California legislature have pulled similar stunts earlier in this century. Is it effective? No. It’s a stunt that doesn’t make any positive point. As the old saying goes, “90% of completing anything is just showing up.”
When I worked in the California Assembly earlier in this century, the GOP still had sway within state government. Republicans in the California Senate blocked passage of a budget for nearly three months. During that time, already underpaid legislative staff (me included) didn’t get paid, along with millions of others across the state, all to make a point about not raising taxes. But in California, taxes will be raised one way or another, “whether you like it or not,” as our current governor, Gavin Newsom, has said about another issue (gay marriage) that a minority in California opposed.
Republican proponents of the Texas legislation note that the net effect of the state law that Democrats are trying to kill would extend voting hours, not constrict them. As the center column outlines, an extra hour of early voting would expand the poll window to nine hours, an extra hour of voting would be added to weekends, and the early voting minimum of 12 hours would be required for counties with fewer than 100,000 population; to either 55,000 (state House bill) or to counties with just 30,000 population (state Senate bill).
Even as Democrats walk out on this, they retain their salaries and perks. What’s so hard about voting yes or no on something? There is more to be said about going on record and voting up or down on a bill than by walking out.
Since their exodus nearly two decades ago, California Republicans have become a much smaller, less effective presence in the state legislature than Democrats in Texas, with only 19 seats out of 80 in the Assembly (they had 32 in 2010) and a pathetic nine of 40 seats in the state Senate. Texas Democrats are in much-better shape, with 13 of its 31state senators and 67 – the members who flew off to Washington – of 150 in the bi-cameral legislature’s House of Representatives.
If I were a Texas Democrat, I would vote “yes” for legislation that would expand voting hours and clarify when and where the polls are open. Just as with the much-maligned Georgia law, the Texas proposals seem common sense to me. We should also expect state and local governments to cull their ballot rolls regularly. In 2021, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out if someone has tried to vote more than once, or for that matter hasn’t voted since 1994 – who may be dead voters, or maybe just recalcitrant Texas Democrats.