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Texas Democrats staged a walkout over a bill that would add significant restrictions to elections in the state.
For now, Senate Bill 7, known as the Election Integrity Protection Act, has been blocked and tabled for a later discussion after Democrats walked out Sunday in protest over the bill’s missions. The bill – which would ban drive-thru voting, limit voting hours, make it more difficult to cast mail ballots and empower partisan poll watchers – was passed by the Senate early Sunday morning following an all-night debate.
However, when the bill arrived at the House Sunday evening for final approval, the chamber eventually adjourned when Democrats ended the debate in protest. One hundred lawmakers are required to be present to go over business.
One of the issues Dems took with the bill was a portion that states a court could void an election if a certain number of fraudulent votes cast could change the result, regardless if fraud were proven to have affected the results of the election, NBC News reports. The bill would also block voting on Sunday before 1 p.m., which critics say is a direct shot at Black churchgoing voters, who are usually included in the “souls to the polls” campaign, a movement used by the Black church community in the nation to get more voters to the polls.
On Saturday, Joe Biden condemned the bill, calling it “part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said the bill was been added to a special session agenda.
