On Sunday, The Root reported that the GOPropagandist-controlled Texas Senate approved what is very clearly a voter suppression bill that was negotiated behind closed doors, pushed “earlier than usual” and one that arbitrarily makes it more difficult to vote. Well, on Sunday night, state Senate Democrats banded together to show that they are having none of that white nationalist nonsense by staging a walkout and forcing Senate Republicans to adjourn without voting on the matter.
From the Washington Post:
The surprise move came after impassioned late-night debate and procedural objections about the GOP-backed legislation, which would have made it harder to vote by mail, empowered partisan poll watchers and made it easier to overturn election results. Republicans faced a midnight deadline to approve the measure.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) tweeted that he would add the bill to a special session he plans to call later this year to address legislative redistricting. “Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session,” he wrote.
But it was an unmistakable defeat for the governor and fellow Republicans, who had crafted one of the most far-reaching voting bills in the country — pushing restrictions championed by former president Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed that his defeat in the 2020 election was tainted by fraud.
See, this is what I mean when I said in our previous report that Republican lawmakers “get to be delusional and proceed with legislation that assumes their delusions are real.”
It is a fact—not an opinion, not speculation, not a debatable assertion, but a FACT—that Trump’s “stop the steal” propaganda was a whole-ass lie. Dozens of judges across lower courts, appellate courts and supreme courts found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The former head of election cybersecurity, the former attorney general, the DOJ and more have confirmed there was no fraud.
Yet, somehow, that lie became the catalyst for Texas Republicans and other GOPunk-ass lawmakers across the country to push legislation for “more secure” elections without presenting even a shred of proof that the added security is needed.
In fact, after the walkout, Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan repeated that lie.
“Texans shouldn’t have to pay the consequences of these members’ actions—or in this case, inaction,” he said, adding that the majority of Texans support “making our elections stronger and more secure.”
First of all, Texans aren’t paying for anyone’s “inaction.” They don’t gain anything from this law as there is no demonstratable need for it. If it’s true that the majority of Texans support new election laws—which he also claimed without providing proof—it’s only because the lie was the “truth”
they wanted to hear after their beloved Tang-flavored cult leader failed to get himself reelected.
Senate Democrats—who, after the walkout, gathered at Mt. Zion Fellowship Hall, a predominately Black church in Austin, to talk to the Texans who Phelan and his fellow Republicans don’t care about—also stated the thing we’ve all been saying: Voter suppression bills are racist AF.
More from the Post:
Calling the measure “egregious” and “horrific,” Democratic lawmakers likened it to the Jim Crow laws of the 20th century that effectively barred Black Americans from voting in Southern states. They sought to slow the process by arguing that the bill had not been properly debated in either chamber.
“That means the voices of Texans were not heard in this debate,” said Rep. John Bucy III (D).
Republicans hashed out a final version behind closed doors late last week over the objections of Democrats, civil rights leaders and business executives, who said the measure targets voters of color. President Biden on Saturday called it “wrong and un-American,” and Democrats vowed to immediately challenge it in court.
“Every American needs to be watching what’s happening in Texas right now,” Rep. Colin Allred (D-Tex.) said Sunday at a news conference. “And we have to have a federal response to this because this has gone way too far.”
“This isn’t legislation,” he added. “This is discrimination.”
Republicans have claimed that these bills are about revitalizing public trust in the election process when the fact is Republican lies are the only reason that trust has eroded in the first place. Sen. Bryan Hughes (R), one of the bill’s sponsors, tweeted Sunday that the legislation “is a strong bill that gives accessibility & security to Texas elections.”
What the bill actually does is limit accessibility and pretend an already secure election needs added security. Republicans are literally doing the opposite of the expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
If you need a shining example of how ridiculous this bill is, there’s a provision in it that requires “anyone who transports more than two voters to the polls to fill out a form,” the Post reports.
IMAGINE NEEDING TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION IN ORDER TO CARPOOL!
“You really have no idea and no realistic vision about how things work in my neighborhood and neighborhoods like mine,” Sen. Borris Miles (D) said during the debate addressing that measure. “Everybody doesn’t have access to cars.”
Nothing about what Texas Republicans are trying to do here is about being “realistic.” It’s all about stopping people from voting. That’s it and that’s all.