Several proposals that have been blasted as “anti-voting” measures recently advanced to the floor of the state Senate.
Advocacy organization Black Voters Matter is keeping an eye out for tactics aimed at voter suppression. Cliff Albright, BVM’s executive director and co-founder, told the Observer that certain bills are concerning, particularly for Black and brown voters.
“Everything's bigger in Texas,” Albright said. “That is unfortunately the case when it comes to voter suppression — I mean, this is literally one of the worst in the country.”
Texas suffers from a relatively low democracy score: 6.25 out of a possible 33.5, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank. By contrast, California’s democracy tally came in at 29.5.
The Lone Star State tops the list when it comes to restrictive voting bills, along with states like Georgia and Florida, Albright said. Texas is currently “doubling down” on ways to limit the vote, he added.
Such proposed legislation includes a push to allow appointed election marshals to investigate purported voting violations.
Albright compared the idea of the deputizing of an “election police force” to tactics seen during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. A similar Florida bill, which created an election police unit, was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.
“That's another example of Texas taking a look at another state and saying, ‘Hey, hold my beer, we can match you,’” Albright said. And in terms of voting rights: “Unfortunately, I don't think there's any hyperbole: [Texas is] one of the worst in the country.”
“Some of the ideas being proposed are equally just as dangerous as some of the worst things we saw last session.” – Anthony Gutierrez, Common Cause Texas
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Part of what makes Texas an insidious standout is that lawmakers have targeted Harris County with near-surgical precision, Albright said. It’s an urban county with many voters of color, who — historically speaking — have favored Democratic candidates.
Texas’ demographics are changing, and with that, so too will vote margins, he said. States with “voter suppression laws” do see a slump in voter turnout, he added, which further casts doubt on Republicans’ claims of election integrity and security.
Several bills are on the radar of Emily Eby French, a voting rights staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. House Bill 1243, by state Rep. Cole Hefner, for instance, would increase the criminal penalty for illegal voting and is up for a hearing on Thursday.
SB 2 by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, would also spike the penalty for illegal voting to a second-degree felony. The main elections bill in 2021 featured a last-minute amendment that made illegal voting a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick requested that the change be reversed, and Hughes obliged with SB 2.
In a legislative priorities report on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Texas urged conservatives to push Sherman state Rep. Reggie Smith, chair of the House Elections Committee, to pass certain election-related bills.
HB 919 by embattled state Rep. Bryan Slaton is on the Texas GOP’s list and would effectively “close the gap” between Election Day and early voting. Texas Rep. Tony Tinderholt’s HB 5231, meanwhile, would get rid of countywide voting in favor of precinct-based voting.
Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, said that the “bad elections bills” have a common denominator.
“Republicans are trying to manipulate the outcome of elections by making it harder for certain people to vote, usually aiming at Black and brown Texans,” he said. “That seems like a very clear pattern to me.”
The way he sees it, certain legislation is a “clearly targeted” attack on reliably blue urban areas like Houston and Dallas.
One difference between this session and the last is the delivery of some of these bills, Gutierrez noted. In 2021, advocates were able to lock arms and mobilize against an omnibus bill, killing it during the regular session before it got “rammed through” during a subsequent special session.
This time, though, there isn’t one “big, scary boogeyman-type” voting bill, he added. Instead, there are a “whole bunch of really terrible ideas” that are harder to band together to stop.
“It is like the worst game of Whack-a-Mole ever,” Gutierrez said. “Some of the ideas being proposed are equally just as dangerous.”
