How Republican stalling helped Democrats defeat the Texas voting bill
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House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, emerges from a closed-door meeting with Democratic members of the Texas House before the start of the debate of Senate Bill 7, known as the Election Integrity Protection Act, at the Capitol on Sunday May 30, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)Jay Janner, MBR / Associated Press
While Texas Democrats killed the GOP’s massive election bill in a dramatic midnight flurry, Republicans helped sow the seeds of their own defeat days even weeks earlier.
Just before a midnight deadline on Sunday, Democrats in the Texas House led a mass walkout, leaving the House without enough members to hold a vote on the controversial elections package that was a top priority for the Republican leaders of the Legislature.
The far-reaching measure, which has the support of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, would make it harder to cast ballots by mail, empowers partisan poll watchers and would make it easier to overturn election results.
Senate Bill 7, one of the most restrictive new voting measures in the country, is scheduled to be taken up by the state House later Sunday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign it quickly.
May 29 The final iteration of a controversial Texas elections bill that has been criticized for restricting access to the polls includes measures that would protect poll watchers, prohibit drive-thru voting and 24-hour-voting sites, and penalize public officials who send a vote-by-mail application to a person who didn't request one. "SB 7 is one of the most comprehensive and sensible .