Texas Election bill SB1 has finally made step forward toward the governor’s desk after the GOP members of Texas House passed 79-37 new voting restrictions on Thursday, putting an end to the months long partisan battles and unprecedented efforts by Democrats to block it, NPR reports.
After staging a dramatic last minute walkout to stop a vote before the legislative session’s conclusion in late May, dozens of Democrats fled the state when GOP Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session initiation a 38 days standoff that ended with Democrats’ return to Austin last week.
The House bill will now head to the Senate that has already passed a similar measure, preparing to put Texas that already has some of the strictest voting rules in the country, in line with the other Republican-led states like Georgia, Florida and Arizona that have passed new restrictions on voting and election administration.
Envisaging new ID requirements for those seeking to vote by mail, new criminal penalties to the voting process and banning the drive-thru and 24-hour voting options, Texas provisions are called unneeded restrictions by the Democrats and voting rights activists.
They claim the new additions to the law stem from the baseless claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies of rigged elections in 2020 and noted they’ll harm disabled voters, voters of color and urban voters.
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