Last modified on Tue 1 Jun 2021 17.46 EDT
Voting rights advocates on Tuesday excoriated Texas governor Greg Abbott’s bizarre threat to defund the state legislature after Democratic lawmakers thwarted an 11th-hour attempt to pass his priority bill that would have made it even harder for the public to cast a ballot in elections.
“At the end of the day, it’s so embarrassing that our governor can’t take a setback without throwing a tantrum about it,” Emily Eby, staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told the Guardian.
In Texas and across the United States, Republicans have tried to roll back access to the polls after last year’s election, when their rightwing supporters bought into unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
The US Capitol Police have denied penning a letter criticizing Republican leaders for refusing to support a 9/11-style probe into the January 6 riot in Washington, DC, insisting the anonymous message is not its official stance.