德克萨斯州立法机构本周开始了一次超时特别会议，以解决共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特概述的一系列优先问题，包括重新努力解决“选举诚信”问题周六，两院将举行重叠听证会，听取来自众议院和参议院的新法案的证词，这些法案寻求彻底改革该州的投票和选举实践。
此前，解决共和党支持的问题的立法未能在5月份的关键最后期限前完成，当时众议院民主党人举行罢工以打破法定人数并阻止了全面选举法案参议院第7号法案的最终投票。进入为期30天的特别会议，民主党人不排除再次罢工以阻止新的投票限制的可能性。
在周四的新闻发布会上，德克萨斯州众议员阿曼多·沃勒(Armando Walle)表示，民主党人“所有的选择都摆在桌面上”，可以动员起来反对共和党支持的特别会议议程，该议程包括一系列与新出现的国家文化战争相呼应的项目。Walle补充说，他的党内成员“将使用一切议会手段来阻止这些法案”，但没有跟进任何潜在行动的例子。
民主党人还谴责共和党推行的“选举诚信”政策，称这是一种政治策略，当他们说不存在问题时，这种策略会创造一种解决方案。
根据布伦南正义中心的数据，截至6月21日，17个州颁布了28项新法律，限制投票。
在周四特别会议开始后接受保守派电台主持人瑞克·罗伯茨采访时，阿博特为议程项目辩护，称其是一个正常运转的政府的重要组成部分。
“如果我们的选举没有诚信，民主进程中的其他东西都不重要，”阿博特说。
随着提案在立法过程中的推进，每一项新法案(众议院法案3和参议院法案1)中包含的语言可能会发生变化，但这两项立法中提出的目标在很大程度上与第7节中首次引入的有争议的限制相呼应。
“H.B. 3就像S.B. 7一样——它基于一个谎言。这是基于一个谎言，即我们的选举中存在猖獗的欺诈，以及唐纳德·特朗普实际上赢得了上次选举的“大谎言”。在全国各地，你都可以看到共和党人叫嚣要通过这些反选民法案，这样他们就可以讨好唐纳德·特朗普和他的支持者，”也是得克萨斯州众议院民主党党团主席的州众议员克里斯·特纳周四说。
像他们的前任一样，H.B. 3和S.B. 1都包含了几个投票权活动家反对的因素。其中一些条款似乎是针对倾向民主党的哈里斯县在2020年选举中使用的做法。这两项法案都禁止24小时投票，这为休斯顿地区的轮班工人提供了更多的投票机会。每一项提案都旨在结束免下车投票，这是该县另一种流行的投票方式。
根据第1节，“投票站不得设在帐篷或类似的临时可移动结构中，也不得设在主要为机动车辆设计的设施中。”同时，H.B. 3规定投票站“应设在建筑物内。任何选民不得在机动车辆内投票，“除非选民有身体残疾，需要特殊照顾。
新的立法提案中包含的另一个有争议的从S.B. 7延续下来的因素是允许扩大党派投票观察员的参与。投票权倡导者此前抨击了这一概念，并表示这些条款可能会让投票观察员恐吓选民，尤其是有色人种。
尽管第一修正案和第三修正案目前的语言继续赋予投票观察员在投票站自由走动的能力，但法案作者似乎试图对他们的行为进行一些监督。
“在接受观察员之前，出示观察员任命证书的官员应要求观察员进行以下宣誓，由该官员管理:‘我发誓(或确认)我在履行职责时不会干扰投票过程或骚扰选民，’”s . b . 1说。
该法案还概述了一项条款，允许观察者在认为自己“被非法阻止或阻挠履行观察者的职责”时提出投诉。
与此同时，H.B. 3包括民主党在5月份支持的语言，该语言允许选举官员“打电话给执法官员，要求在投票观察员破坏和平或违反法律的情况下将其撤职。”
值得注意的是，这两个版本的新法案都没有包括对周日投票时间的限制，投票活动人士此前认为这是对黑人社区“灵魂投票”活动的攻击。这些法案也不包括《联邦法典》第7条中降低质疑和可能推翻选举结果所需的证据门槛的语言。
Texas special session begins with 2nd attempt by Republicans to revise state's election laws
The Texas legislature began an overtime special session this week to address a slate of priority issues outlined by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, including a renewed effort to address "election integrity." On Saturday, both chambers will hold overlapping hearings with testimony regarding new bills from the House and Senate that seek to overhaul the state's voting andelectionpractices.
Previously, legislation addressing the Republican-backed issue failed to meet a critical deadline in May when House Democratsstaged a walkout to break quorumand prevented a final vote on the sweeping election bill, Senate Bill 7. Going into the 30-day special session, Democrats did not rule out the possibility of another walkout to block new restrictions on voting.
During a press conference Thursday, Texas state Rep. Armando Walle said "every option is on the table" for Democrats to mobilize against the GOP-backed special session agenda, which includes a host of items that echo emerging national culture wars. Walle added that his fellow party members are "going to use every parliamentary means to stop these bills," but did not follow up with examples of any potential actions.
Democrats are also decrying the Republican policy push of "election integrity" as a political maneuver that creates a solution when they say there is no existing problem.
Seventeen states had enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote, as of June 21, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
During an interview with conservative radio host Rick Roberts following the beginning of the special session on Thursday, Abbott defended the agenda item as a crucial part of a functioning government.
"Without having integrity in our elections, none of the other stuff in the democratic process really matters," Abbott said.
The language included in each of the new bills -- House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 1 -- is likely to change as the proposals advance through the legislative process, but the objectives laid out in both pieces of legislation largely echo the contentious restrictions first introduced in S.B. 7.
"H.B. 3 is just like S.B. 7 -- it's based on a lie. It's based on a lie that there's rampant fraud in our elections, and on the 'big lie' that Donald Trump actually won the last election. All across the country, you see Republicans clamoring to pass these anti-voter bills, so they can curry favor with Donald Trump and his supporters," state Rep. Chris Turner, who also chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said Thursday.
Like their predecessors, both H.B. 3 and S.B. 1 include several elements that voting rights activists oppose. Among them are provisions that appear to be aimed at practices utilized by Democrat-leaning Harris County during the 2020 election. Both bills ban 24-hour voting availability, which offered greater ballot access to Houston-area shift workers when implemented in the fall. Each of the proposals also aims to end drive-thru voting, another popular voting method in the diverse county.
According to S.B. 1, "a polling place may not be located in a tent or similar temporary moveable structure or in a facility primarily designed for motor vehicles." Meanwhile, H.B. 3 states that polling places "shall be located inside a building. No voter may cast a vote from inside a motor vehicle," unless the voter has physical disabilities that warrant special accommodations.
Another contentious carryover element from S.B. 7 included in the new legislative proposals is granting expanded access to partisan poll watchers. Voting rights advocates previously blasted the concept and said the provisions could allow poll watchers to intimidate voters, especially those who are people of color.
Although the current language in S.B. 1 and H.B. 3 continues to grant poll watchers the ability to move freely around polling places, there appears to be an attempt by the bills' authors to provide some oversight to their behavior.
"Before accepting a watcher, the officer presented with a watcher's certificate of appointment shall require the watcher to take the following oath, administered by the officer: 'I swear (or affirm) that I will not disrupt the voting process or harass voters in the discharge of my duties,'" S.B. 1 says.
The bill goes on to outline a provision that allows watchers to file complaints if they believe they were "unlawfully prevented or obstructed from the performance of the watcher's duties."
Meanwhile, H.B. 3 includes language Democrats backed in May that allows election officials to "call a law enforcement officer to request that a poll watcher be removed if the poll watcher commits a breach of the peace or a violation of law."
Notably, neither version of the new bills include restrictions on Sunday voting hours, which voting activists previously saw as an attack on "Souls to the Polls" events in Black communities. The bills also do not include language from S.B. 7 that lowered the threshold of proof required to challenge and potentially overturn election results.
