May 31, 2021
Just hours before a midnight deadline to approve the controversial Texas voting rights bill, Democrats temporarily blocked its passage by walking out of the state legislature. Senate Bill 7 (or SB 7 for short) proposed an overhaul of the state’s voting process, which critics argue would disproportionately affect Black and Latino voters.
The voting rights bill would ban drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, limit early voting hours, make it more difficult to receive and cast mail-in ballots, and reduce the types of locations that can serve as polling places.
These proposals aggravate a wound that is already festering: Texas is not new to such legislation. According to researchers at Northern Illinois University, the state already has the most restrictive electoral climate in the US.
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ERIN SCOTT/Reuters
As Congress begins debate this week on sweeping voting and ethics legislation, Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: If signed into law, it would usher in the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections law in at least a generation.
House Resolution 1, Democrats’ 791-page bill, would touch virtually every aspect of the electoral process – striking down hurdles to voting erected in the name of election security, curbing partisan gerrymandering and curtailing the influence of big money in politics.