SB7 & Voter Suppression
Protestors against the recent voter suppression bills demonstrating outside of the Texas Capitol Building
Taking a Stand (and a walk)
On the night of Sunday May 30th, 2021, Texas House Democrats slowly trickled out of the house chamber in order to prevent the chamber from having a quorum. This move was in response to SB7 in its most recent form, a bill that would have passed restrictions to voting and elections for all Texans. Shortly before the deadline to pass SB7, House Speaker Dade Phelan was forced to accept the loss of a quorum, disbanding the chamber and killing the voter suppression bill. The Democrats walked out citing not only in protest of the contents of the bill, but also the methods the Republicans used to try to slam the bill through the legislature before the end of the legislative session behind closed doors.
“We’ve used all the tools in our toolbox to fight this bill. And tonight we pulled out that last one.”
The exact contents of SB7 would have enacted restrictions meant to target some of the most democratic and diverse populations of our state. The final version that was to be voted on included the restriction of early voting hours, making sending ballot by mail applications to those that did not request it a felony, allowing poll watchers to have free range in polling locations, and many other harmful and restrictive provisions.
Many provisions in the bill specifically targeted minority communities, such as a provision that would restrict voting hours on Sundays to be between 1pm and 6pm in order to restrict efforts such as Souls to the Polls, a get-out the vote effort especially prominent in black communities, and another provision that would require those that drove more than two people to a polling location to fill out a form when many in underprivileged and minority communities regularly use carpool and other ride-sharing methods to get to the polls.
Additionally, many of the provisions in the bill seemed to target Harris County in particular, the heavily populated, diverse, and majority democratic county that contains Houston. The bill’s restriction on the hours of early voting seemed to directly target the county’s 24 hour early voting that was implemented in the 2020 election cycle, and the bill also banned drive-thru voting, another policy adopted by Harris County in 2020. However, both drive-thru voting and 24 hour early voting are used by many minority populations in the county and help reduce stress for workers on what time and where they need to get to the polls before they close.
Finally, the bill had a number of amendments, many of which were added late in the process with no debate or discussion with the democratic members of the legislature. One such amendment would allow judges to overturn elections in situations where enough fraudulent votes are thought to exist and changing the burden of proof for fraud from “clear and convincing evidence,” to “a preponderance of evidence.” Here was the exact wording:
“If the number of votes illegally cast in the election is equal to or greater than the number of votes necessary to change the outcome of an election, the court may declare the election void without attempting to determine how individual voters voted.”
In effect, this provision would have made it easier for Texas judges to void elections that were won by one party or another if they can find “a preponderance of evidence” that there could have been fraud. However, the greater danger is that this provision would be opening the door to the idea that judges can overturn elections in any accessible manner, setting a precedent for future legislation to carry similar election annulment clauses.
To read more on what exactly SB7 included, follow these links:
Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Texas Democrats in the White House, 6/16/21
Meeting with the VP
By defiantly walking out of the Texas House chamber, Texas Democratic lawmakers have shown their commitment to free and fair elections in the State of Texas that are easily accessible to all Texans. As a result, many Texas Democrats were invited to the White House by Vice President Harris to discuss voter suppression in our state and nationwide.
“Frankly this is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. This is an American issue.”
The vice president called the meeting to discuss the path forward for democrats in our state after Governor Greg Abbott announced his plans to call a special session later this year to readdress SB7. Harris also wanted to address the push for federal voting rights legislation such as the For the People Act (HR1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Unfortunately, neither of these bills were able to pass in the Senate after Republicans were able to successfully use the filibuster to kill the bills despite the unanimous democratic majority support in the chamber.
Second WAlkout - July 12th
On July 12th 2021, a majority of Texas House Democrats left the state for Washington DC, once again attempting to prevent the Texas Legislature from passing similar voter suppression bills. Governor Abbott called a special session for July 8th on the issue of, among other things, “Voter Integrity,” a common Republican misnomer for restricting voting rights and making it more difficult to vote, especially for minority communities. Repubicans in the House, in a bid to compel Democrats to return, voted 76-4 in favor of a “Call of the House,” a motion that will allow the sergeant at arms to arrest absent members of the House and compel their attendance. However, Washington DC is not in Texas, and therefore, the Texas sergeant at arms has no power to arrest them until their return. House Democrats plan to stay out of state until the special session ends, standing strong against the unjust election laws that Texas Republicans are trying to force through the legislative process onto Texas voters.
Texas House Democrats meet with Senator Elizabeth Warren in Washington D.C.
If you would like to reach out to the Texas Democrats standing up for our voting rights, first contact Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at chris@votechristurner.com.
Contact your elected officials about voter suppression:
Rep. Pete Sessions- 254-633-4500 202-224-6105
Senator John Cornyn- 512-469-6034 202-224-2934
Senator Ted Cruz- 512-916-5834 202-224-5922
All other US Senators or Congressmen (202) 224-3121
Rep. Doc Anderson- (56) 254-754-3892 512-463-0135
Rep. Kyle Kacal (12) 979-774-7276 512-463-0412
State Senator Brian Birdwell (22) 512 463-0122
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick 512-463-0001