Texas Republicans Push Through Voter Suppression Bills Before Deadline
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Texas Legislature rushes to finish its omnibus voter suppression bill, Senate Bill 7, before the end of the session, Republicans are pushing through smaller bills and additional restrictions to supplement the effort. On Thursday, during the final week of the legislative session, Republicans sent two new suppression bills to the governor. Senate Bill 1113 would allow the Texas secretary of state to withhold state funds from registrars if they do not regularly purge voter registrations. Senate Bill 1111 would ban voters from using commercial P.O. boxes as their address to register — a practice often used by churches that allow homeless parishioners or those without addresses to use the church P.O. box to register.
Republicans in the Legislature are using the last days of the legislative session to effectively disenfranchise as many voters as possible. The final version of S.B. 7, a sweeping voter suppression bill that has faced pushback from corporations and voting rights advocates, is expected to pass this weekend.