德克萨斯州奥斯汀——德克萨斯州共和党议员提出了一项全面的选举经过几个小时的讨论，美国最大的红色州面临着越来越多的企业警告，即将实施一系列新的投票限制。
德克萨斯州众议院凌晨3点的关键投票是在数小时的辩论之后进行的，民主党人在共和党控制的州议会大厦几乎没有办法阻止该法案，他们提出了技术挑战和数小时的质疑，该法案的作者、共和党州众议员布里斯科·凯恩(Briscoe Cain)似乎有时没有准备好回答。最后，共和党人和民主党人达成了一项协议，留下了20项修正案，大大削弱了该法案在以81票对64票通过时被倡导者称为最有问题的方面。
修正案降低了最初提出的强化刑事处罚，允许违反和平的投票观察人员被撤职，并澄清选举法官和志愿者不对诚实的错误负责。此外，他们指示该州向高中发送选民登记申请，并指示该州开发一种跟踪早期投票的在线格式。
周四的法案与一项类似的法案结合在一起，该法案已经在参议院获得通过，两院仍需就最终版本进行谈判，然后才能提交给共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特(Greg Abbott)，他一直为这些措施进行广泛辩护。会议于5月31日结束。
民主党众议员杰西卡·冈萨雷斯(Jessica Gonzalez)说:“这是老吉姆·克劳(Jim Crow)穿的衣服，我们的同事称之为选举诚信。”
周四在德克萨斯州的辩论与佛罗里达州共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)签署了一项范围广泛的法案，使他的州成为最新一个加强选举规则的州。
艾伯特从未动摇过对其政党限制的支持，并抨击了直言不讳的企业，周四重申了他的支持。
“我把选举诚信作为本届会议的紧急事项，以帮助确保每个合格的选民都能投票&只有合格的选票才会被计算在内，”艾伯特在推特上说。
凯恩是众议院选举委员会主席，也是众议院投票法案的作者，他也表达了同样的观点。凯恩一直是前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的热情支持者，特朗普继续谎称欺诈使他在2020年选举中落败。
德克萨斯州没有报告重大问题或欺诈——这是极其罕见的——特朗普在11月赢得了该州。
凯恩在3月份犯了一个程序性错误，在数百人出庭作证后推迟了对该法案的作证。他受到了民主党人的尖锐质疑，民主党人就该法案的意图以及他是否理解自己立法中的措辞意味着什么向他施压。
凯恩说:“我们不需要等待坏事发生来保护选举的安全。”。“我不相信这是压制选民，我相信这是增强选民。”
凯恩法案中的其他限制将禁止德克萨斯州官员向所有注册选民发送邮件投票请求表，哈里斯县(凯恩的家乡)的投票官员去年在亲自聚会因冠状病毒大流行而更加危险时，为扩大投票机会而做出了努力。包括休斯顿在内的哈里斯县也是民主党的大本营，那里近500万居民中有44%是拉丁裔，20%是黑人。
投票权组织表示，穷人和少数族裔选民将首当其冲受到共和党的限制，共和党人指望选民的特权来克服障碍。周二，50多家公司和商业组织，包括德克萨斯州的一些公司和商业组织，发布了一封公开信，表示反对“任何可能使该州更难投票的变革”。
德克萨斯州的共和党人愤怒地拒绝了这些指控。他们表示，这些措施只会限制县领导最初从未拥有的权力。
德克萨斯州众议院的一名共和党众议员莱尔·拉森(Lyle Larson)本周在家乡报纸的一个意见专栏中公开反对该党的提议。但他一直是德克萨斯州国会大厦他的政党中唯一的公开反对声音。
拉森在《圣安东尼奥快报》上写道:“这项法案中包含的压制策略对共和党的伤害与其对手一样大，甚至更大。”。“人们不禁要问——法案作者是不是想让共和党选民更难投票?”
Texas GOP's voting restriction bill passes key House vote
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Republican lawmakers advanced a sweepingelections bill early Friday following hours of discussion that would put America's biggest red state closer to imposing a raft of new voting restrictions in the face of growing warning from corporations.
The key vote at 3 a.m. in the Texas House followed hours of debate as Democrats, who had little means of stopping the bill in the GOP-controlled state Capitol, deployed technical challenges and hours of questioning that the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, appeared unprepared at times to answer. Finally, an agreement was reached between Republicans and Democrats leaving the bill with 20 amendments that significantly watered down some of what advocates called the most problematic aspects of the bill as it passed the key vote 81-64.
The amendments lowered initially proposed enhanced criminal penalties, allowed poll watchers to be removed if they breach the peace and clarified that election judges and volunteers wouldn't be held liable for honest mistakes. Additionally, they instructed the state to send voter registration applications to high schools and instructed the state to develop an online format for tracking early ballots.
Thursday's bill was combined with a similar bill, which already passed the Senate, and both chambers still need to negotiate a final version before it goes to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has broadly defended the measures. The session ends May 31.
“It is old Jim Crow dressed up in what our colleagues are calling election integrity,” said Democratic state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez.
Thursday's debate in Texas came the same day Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a wide-ranging bill to make his the latest state to toughen its election rules.
Abbott, who has not wavered in his backing of his party's restrictions and has lashed out at businesses that have spoken out, reiterated his support Thursday.
“I made election integrity an emergency item this session to help ensure every eligible voter gets to vote & only eligible ballots are counted,” Abbott tweeted.
Cain, who chairs the House Elections Committee and who authored the House version of the voting bill, echoed those sentiments. Cain has been an ardent support of former President Donald Trump, who continues to make false claims that fraud cost him the 2020 election.
There were no major problems or fraud — which is extremely rare — reported in Texas and Trump carried the state in November.
Cain, who in March made a procedural gaffe that delayed testimony on the bill after hundreds of people showed up to testify, came under sharp questioning from Democrats who pressed him over the bill's intent and whether he understood what the language in his own legislation meant.
“We don’t need to wait for bad things to happen to protect the security of the election,” Cain said. “I don’t believe that this is voter suppression, I believe it is voter enhancement.”
Other restrictions in Cain's bill would outlaw Texas county officials from sending mail-ballot request forms to all registered voters, efforts voting officials in Harris County — where Cain is from — put in place last year to expand ballot access when in-person gatherings were more hazardous because of the coronavirus pandemic. Harris County, which includes Houston, is also a Democratic stronghold where 44% of the nearly 5 million residents are Latino and 20% are Black.
Voting rights groups say poor and minority voters will bear the brunt of GOP restrictions, and that Republicans are counting on the privilege of their voters to overcome hurdles. On Tuesday, more than 50 companies and business organizations, including some in Texas, released an open letter expressing opposition to “any changes” that would make it harder to vote in that state.
Republicans in Texas have angrily rejected those accusations. They say the measures would only rein in powers that county leaders never had in the first place.
One Republican in the Texas House, Rep. Lyle Larson, spoke out this week against his party's proposals in an opinion column in his hometown newspaper. But he has been a lone public voice of dissent in his party in the Texas Capitol.
“The suppression tactics included in this bill would hurt the Republican Party as much or more than its opposition,” Larson wrote in the San Antonio Express-News. “One can only wonder — are the bill authors trying to make it harder for Republican voters to vote?”
