The Republican-controlled Texas state House and Senate on Tuesday passed the final versions of the controversial citizen integrity legislation, which the Democrats tried to oppose for months.
Your house voted to pass the costs 80-41 with just one Republican signing up with the Democrats, and the Senate passed the legislation hours later with an 18-13 party-line vote. After the bill’s passage– a major victory for the Republicans– the text will now go to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk to be signed into law.
Abbott, in trying to pass the expense, had actually called 2 different special legislative sessions to pass the voting legislation. In July, 57 of the 66 Democrats in the House got away the state for the country’s capital to take away the two-thirds present quorum to conduct any type of organization.
“Under the House rules, two-thirds of the chamber’s members must exist to satisfy quorum, the number of lawmakers needed to move legislation,” The Texas Tribune kept in mind.
After the legislation passed the Senate, Abbott stated he eagerly anticipates signing the costs into law and explained the value of the legislation”:
Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is critical in the state of Texas, which is why I made election integrity an emergency item during the 87th legislative session.
…
Senate Costs 1 creates uniform statewide ballot hours, maintains and broaden voting gain access to for signed up citizens that need support, prohibits drive-through ballot, and boosts transparency by licensing poll watchers to observe more aspects of the election process. The costs likewise prohibits the distribution of unsolicited applications for mail-in ballots and gives citizens with a defective mail-in a ballot the chance to correct the flaw.
Abbott likewise thanked the election authorities that contributed to passing the legislation.
The Texas election stability costs is on its method to my desk!
I thank @SenBryanHughes, Rep. Murr, Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick, & Speaker @DadePhelan for stepping up to guarantee this bill made it to the finish line.
This expense will make it simpler to vote & more difficult to cheat.#txlege pic.twitter.com/oZ0GJKB4Mi
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 31, 2021
Texas now joins 17 other states that have actually passed some quantity of citizen integrity laws because the 2020 election, according to the left-wing media outlet the Washington Post.
“Supporters of the Texas bill argued that it was necessary to bring back citizen confidence in the state’s elections– despite the fact that leading state officials stated there was no proof of substantial fraud that would have altered the results in 2015,” the Post composed.
After the bill’s passage, its author, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican politician, said, “All of these pieces assembled will offer us a protected system for everyone. … It’s a huge deal.”
“Anyone who tells you there’s no voter fraud in Texas is telling you a very big lie. We understand what takes place. The right to vote is too precious. It costs too much for us to leave it unguarded,” Hughes added.
Follow Jacob Happiness on Twitter @jacobmbliss.