What’s Happening in Texas? Texas and Voter Suppression
You’ve probably heard a lot about Texas and voting rights recently, but with things moving so quickly, it can be challenging to understand what is going on.
Some important background before we dive in: Texas has 31 senators and 150 Representatives. Republicans have strong majorities in both houses, meaning essentially, they can pass whatever they want. According to the rules of procedure of the Texas House, they need 2/3 of members present to have a quorum and ‘do business.’ Without 2/3 of members, they are frozen. This is why over 50 Texas House Democrats are refusing to attend Abbott’s special sessions. Without them, the House can’t pass anything, most importantly SB1.
SB1 or Senate Bill 1 is the voting bill everyone is so upset about. It would ban drive-thru voting, 24-hour voting, and the distribution of unsolicited vote-by-mail applications by counties. It also adds additional, unnecessary ID requirements to vote by mail. It gives partisan poll watchers more access to the process and makes it harder to remove them when they violate election law. Generally speaking, it would make it harder to vote. And it targets many of the policies Harris County, a relative Democratic stronghold, used last November to increase turnout, with significant success.
Bills like this target the voters that Rideshare2Vote was created to help. Our voters need more early voting to ensure that they can find a time to vote. Disability rights advocates are concerned that taking away drive-thru voting and making it harder to get an absentee ballot will hurt disabled voters, a group that Rideshare2Vote focuses on helping get the polls. Rideshare2Vote will be here no matter what, countering voter suppression and assisting the vulnerable to make it to the polls as we are the last line of defense.
Over the past few weeks, we have seen over 50 Texas House Democrats flee to DC to prevent the passage of SB1 and to call on Congress to protect the right to vote on a federal level. Unfortunately, at this point, much of the Voting Rights Act no longer exists to protect us, and we need new legislation to challenge the many bills and laws that chip away at our right to vote.
Governor Abbott has called for the civil arrest of the House Dems that refuse to attend the session, and there has been considerable back and forth in the courts. Judges in Harris and Travis County blocked the arrest warrants, but the Texas Supreme Court has overruled this, and the Speaker of the House signed 52 arrest warrants. Texas Dems have filed lawsuits against this, and the NAACP has asked the DOJ to look into the legality of Texas Republicans threatening to have their colleagues arrested.
As the US Senate has recessed for August, there is little hope that the For The People Act will be passed soon, but Texas Dems keep fighting. Senator Carol Alvarado held a filibuster against the bill for 15 hours overnight to call attention to Texas. In Texas, the rules of the filibuster are strict: no eating, drinking, sitting or leaning, and Senators must speak only on the bill. That requires determination. She ended her filibuster at 8:55 am, and the bill passed once more on party lines soon after.
For now, until Congress is back in session, we must support our Texas Dems. If you live in Texas, give your state senators and representatives a call. If they supported SB1, express your displeasure. And if they are standing against it, thank them for their leadership and patriotism. And for those living elsewhere, call your US Senators and Congressmembers and tell them you expect them to keep fighting for the For The People Act. If they don’t support it, calling just might change their mind, given enough people say something. The worst thing we can do is accept this.
Get on social media and tell them you want the For The People Act. Then, join Rideshare2Vote for one of our Twitter Storms, happening weekly. And don’t forget to do the most important thing when Election Day comes around: vote blue and tell everyone you know to do so too.
by Betsy Zalinski
