Texas Democrats Walk Out in Protest of Restrictive Voting Bill
On the last Sunday in May, Texas state House Democrats staged a walkout to protest a stringent set of voting laws, similar to laws passed in Florida, Georgia, and other states. This move forced the House to adjourn without coming to a vote. Had the measure passed, it would have been the most restrictive set of voting rules in the country. According to The Washington Post, Chris Turner, the House Democratic chairman, sent out an email to fellow House Democrats at 10:35 PM telling them to leave the legislative building.
“Members, take your key and leave the chamber discreetly. Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building,” Turner wrote. These keys are referring to the keys that lock the voting mechanisms in their desks.
The state Senate had passed it early on Sunday after seven hours of debate. The Senate is majority Republican.
According to state Rep. Jessica González (D), she said that this bill was being passed with no input from Democrats. “We decided to come together and say we weren’t going to take it. We needed to be part of the process. Cutting us out completely — I mean, this law will affect every single voter in Texas,” Gonzalez said.
Turner said in a statement that dozens of House Democrats planned to give statements against the bill, but that, “it became obvious Republicans were going to cut off debate to ram through their vote suppression legislation. At that point, we had no choice but to take extraordinary measures to protect our constituents and their right to vote.”
After they walked out, they went to a predominantly Black church in Austin to speak with reporters. They said this meeting place was symbolic of the minorities that they say would be targeted by the bill.
Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan said that the walkout killed many other bills that would have had bipartisan support. “Texans shouldn't have to pay the consequences of these members' actions — or in this case, inaction,” Phelan said. He also said that most Texans support “making our elections stronger and more secure.”
Republicans made a final version of the bill last week behind closed doors. President Biden said it was “wrong and un-American.” Democrats say these new voting measures are similar to Jim Crow laws, laws that restricted Black people’s rights to vote in Southern states during the 20th century.
Senate Bill 7 would make a variety of changes. For example, this bill would make it illegal for election officials to send out unsolicited mail ballot applications. It would also ban procedures like drop boxes and drive-through voting. Drive-through voting was recently popular in Harris County, a majority Democrat area. The bill would also prohibit early voting on Sunday mornings, which could negatively affect get-out-the-vote programs for churchgoing Black voters.
Many provisions were added to the bill at the last minute, such as that it would no longer be required to prove fraud to overturn an election. Instead, it would only need to be proven that there were enough ballots illegally cast that could have changed the outcome. It also changes the burden of proof for overturning an election from “reasonable doubt” to a “preponderance of the evidence.” “Preponderance of the evidence” is a much lower bar to meet, meaning that you only have to prove that it is more likely than not (51% or more chance) that someone committed a crime.
A Black Senator from Houston, Borris Miles (D), spoke against a provision in the bill that would make anyone who transports more than two people who are not family to the polls fill out a form. Borris says that many people in his community rely on transportation from other people.
“You really have no idea and no realistic vision about how things work in my neighborhood and neighborhoods like mine. Everybody doesn’t have access to cars,” Borris said.
