By Cherranda Smith
May 7, 2021
Texas became one step closer to getting a voting restrictions bill signed into law after the Republican-led House passed the legislation overnight.
The Lone Star State’s push for the election overhaul comes after Florida Governor
In the Texas bill, which passed in a 81-64 vote along party lines, Democrats were able to negotiate some terms they argued would disproportionately impact voters of color.
Among those changes were lowering criminal penalties laid out in the bill and additional clarity about the criminal liability of poll workers who make genuine mistakes.
NBC News reported that under the bill’s amendments, disruptive poll watchers could be removed from a voting site.
Joseph Ax and Steve Gorman
May 7, 2021, 3:24 AM
(Reuters) - The Texas House of Representatives on Friday backed a bill to bar election officials from sending voters unsolicited mail-in ballot applications, while giving party-affiliated poll watchers greater access to voting sites.
The overnight vote in the Republican-controlled legislature followed enactment of similar measures in Georgia and Florida in the wake of Democrat Joe Biden s presidential election win.
Sponsors of the bills assert they are intended to prevent voter fraud while bolstering election integrity and public confidence in balloting.
Democrats and civil liberties advocates counter that there is no evidence of widespread ballot tampering, and argue that such legislation disproportionately burdens or discourages voters of color, as well as the elderly and disabled.
Companies call out efforts to restrict voting in Texas By Kate Gibson Florida and Texas Republicans target voting laws
Corporations including HP, Levi Strauss, Microsoft and Patagonia are expressing concern about proposed changes to voting rules in Texas, where the Republican-controlled legislature is backing bills that would make it harder for some residents to cast ballots. We stand together, as a nonpartisan coalition, calling on elected leaders in Texas to support reforms that make democracy more accessible and oppose any changes that would restrict eligible voters access to the ballot, the companies and other groups stated in a letter released Tuesday by Fair Elections Texas, a recently formed group that includes former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk.
When I read last week, Matthew McConaughey is considering running for governor in his home state of Texas, I thought he’s going to be late for meetings because he makes such a production of getting in his Lincoln and driving anywhere. Think of all the mumbled poetry and cufflinks-adjusting before he even gets a half mile down the road.
One imagines wife Camila never asks Matty to fetch milk for the kids’ cereal because, as we know, if he encounters an 1,800 pound bull in the road, he will ease the Lincoln into “park” and pause to salute the bull’s size and stamina before announcing softly: “Yes. I will take the long way around.”
Texas’ capital city had a public camping ban in place for 23 years before it was repealed in 2019. Austinites are now voting on whether to revive it.
Tents are seen in a homeless encampment on East 7th Street in Austin, Texas, along with a Vote No on Prop B sign. (Courthouse News photo/Madison Venza)
AUSTIN, Texas (CN) Austin’s storied past dealing with homelessness is headed toward a new chapter.
On Saturday, Austinites will for the first time have a chance to decide whether to again make it a crime for anyone to camp within city limits. Proposition B seeks to reinstate a criminal penalty for persons sleeping in the city outside of designated camping areas and for obstructing public sidewalks by either sitting or lying down. But Mayor Steve Adler, City Council members and homeless service providers are fighting to keep Prop B from becoming law.