What Could Go Wrong? Texas May Allow Guns at the Polls

Texas voters could encounter concealed guns at the polls starting this year. Republican lawmakers in the state are hoping to buck a trend that has seen several states put limits on guns near voting sites in response to concerns about political violence. 

The Texas House passed a bill Tuesday that would allow any gun owner to carry a concealed handgun at a polling location. Under the measure, guns would not be permitted at polling places in locations where firearms are otherwise prohibited, such as schools. An early version of HB 1794 applied only to licensed gun owners, but that provision was dropped. Since 2021, Texans have been allowed to carry handguns without obtaining a license or receiving training.

In an 83 to 50 vote, the House sent the bill to the Senate for consideration.

Currently, Texas is one of 16 states with a total prohibition against guns in polling places, according to a tally created by the progressive think tank Movement Advancement Project.

Opponents testified at a Texas House committee hearing in April, arguing that having guns at the polls could lead to voter intimidation and make everyone less safe. As a frequent election worker in Travis County, Susanna Carranza said she has been responsible for intervening and de-escalating volatile situations with voters.

“It’s already hard enough in divisive times to work the polls,” Carranza told lawmakers. “Adding guns to the mixture is absurd.”

Last week, the Texas House passed a separate bill allowing election judges – who are not actually judges, but civilians who sign up to run polling locations – to carry concealed handguns at polling places. The measure passed in an 85 to 57 vote, largely along party lines. Next, it could be heard by a Senate committee in the coming weeks.

The bill was co-authored by State Rep. Carrie Isaac (R), who told lawmakers in a hearing that the aim is to support election officials.

“This legislation is a necessary response to the escalating threats of intimidation faced by election officials both nationally and within Texas,” said Isaac, who has supported debunked claims about widespread election fraud that have led to those exact threats.

Isaac’s bill follows an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2018 making the case that election judges at polling locations have the same right as district judges to carry arms to enforce order. That opinion was not legally binding.

Permitting Texans to bring guns to the polls would increase the risk of violence in a state where election workers are already worried about their physical safety. 

A voter assaulted an elderly election clerk in San Antonio during early voting in the 2024 General Election after the clerk asked him to remove his Make America Great Again hat in compliance with a state law that prohibits wearing campaign slogans at polling places.

In 2022, Gillespie County’s entire elections department resigned, citing threats and dangerous misinformation.

Texas’ effort to arm voters and election workers follows a wave of polling place gun-control legislation last year across several Democratic-led states. 

Colorado, Vermont and Massachusetts banned concealed-carry guns at polling locations. Michigan and New Mexico also banned guns, but allowed exceptions for concealed carry license holders. Virginia already banned firearms within 40 feet of a polling location, but a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly that would have extended the ban to within 100 feet of a poll was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).