Texas Republicans Advance Voter Suppression Bill in Special Session
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Texas Senate has advanced Senate Bill 1, the Republicans’ new omnibus voter suppression bill that Senate Republicans hope to pass during this special session. S.B. 1 includes many provisions from both Senate Bill 7 and a new state House voter suppression bill. These include allowing clerks to report the registrations of suspected ineligible voters to the state attorney general, banning drive-thru and accessible outdoor voting, banning 24-hour voting, removing straight-ticket voting options from ballots, preventing clerks from sending out mail-in ballot applications unless explicitly requested, new signature matching requirements and more.
In a party-line vote on Tuesday, Republicans unanimously voted to pass the legislation, with the four Democrats that were present voting against it. The other Democrats in the state Senate left the state yesterday with their state House colleagues in an attempt to deny Republicans quorum and prevent the bill from advancing. Although the legislation has advanced through the state Senate, there are not enough members of the state House present for Republicans to take it up for a vote. The legislation will stall for now.