Texas Republicans Attempt Voter Suppression Again

When Governor Abbott designated “election integrity” an emergency item last month anyone who has paid attention to his rhetoric and that of the rest of the Republican Party knew it was a bad sign. Sure enough after weeks of rumors Senate Bill 7 was just introduced and it comes as no surprise that the 27 page bill contains a wide range of voter suppression and anti-democracy provisions.

SB 7 expands prosecutorial powers for the Attorney General over voter registration violations, whether intentional violations or accidental. Given Attorney General Ken Paxton’s predilection for using his office for purely political purposes; like trying to overturn the results of a presidential election, giving him expanded powers to prosecute voter registration mistakes is a profoundly bad idea.

The bill prohibits counties from proactively sending vote by mail applications which some counties did in the 2020 election cycle to encourage eligible voters to stay safe by voting by mail rather than risk infection from the coronavirus at a polling site.

SB 7 prohibits counties from operating early voting poll sites later than 7pm. Only a few counties offered later hours but it certainly helps people who work long hours to have an opportunity to vote.

The bill mandates anyone who wants to vote by mail because they are disabled must provide specific documentation. So now folks who already have a hard time getting along in life face another hurdle exercising their constitutional right to vote.

SB 7 requires that any person in the car with a voter who is voting curbside, including people who transported them there, shall officially be deemed an assistant under law who must sign the form documenting that they provided assistance. So if a disabled person takes a cab to the polls the cab driver must sign in as an assistant. How many cab drivers are going to find that acceptable?

Senate Bill 7 continues a pattern we’ve been seeing throughout the pandemic where county election workers do their best to find ways to let Texans vote safely and securely state officials do everything they can to stop them.

As Common Cause Texas Executive Director Anthony Gutierrez said recently “It’s already harder to vote in Texas than any other state and Senate Bill 7 would make it considerably harder.”

There is a reason we keep hearing so much talk from politicians in Texas about “election integrity”, without any basis in reality, it’s because they need to invent a justification for a bill that drastically limits voting rights. There is one and only one purpose to Senate Bill 7 and that is to help the politicians in charge stay in power. 

The real problem with elections in Texas that we should be addressing is too few people participating in our democratic process. We should be doing things like implementing online voter registration, improving civics education, and investing in our election infrastructure.

You have an opportunity to be a part of the process and stop this truly bad bill by contacting your state representative John Kuempel at (830) 379-8732 and depending on which part of the county you live in state senator Judith Zaffirini at (512) 463-0121 or Donna Campbell at (512) 463-0125. Both senators sit on the State Affairs committee to which SB7 is assigned.