Texas Scorecard by By Erin Anderson August 31, 2021
Republican lawmakers finally pass comprehensive election reform after months of obstruction by Democrats.In a win for election integrity advocates, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature finally passed a major comprehensive election reform bill—a top GOP priority that Democrat lawmakers spent months trying to block.
House and Senate members gave final approval to Senate Bill 1 on Tuesday.
The bill now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he’ll sign it into law.
The voting security measure is designed to make it “easy to vote and hard to cheat,” according to the bill’s author, State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola).
SB 1 contains dozens of reforms sought by election integrity advocates to make voting more secure, many carried forward from past legislative sessions. As approved, the bill will:
• ban paid vote harvesting;
• require a voter ID number on mail ballots, in line with in-person voting;
• set uniform early voting hours;
• require poll watchers to complete online training developed by the secretary of state;
• protect poll watchers, including allowing observers to be “near enough to see and hear” election workers’ activities;
• penalize election officials who block poll watchers from serving;
• prohibit unsolicited distribution of mail-ballot applications by public officials;
• require voters to fill out qualifying information on voter registration applications;
• add procedures for verifying voters’ citizenship using DPS data;
• hold voter registrars accountable for performing required voter list maintenance;
• set procedures for verifying returned mail ballots;
• allow voters to correct mail ballot defects, including via a new online ballot-tracking system;
• require voter assistants to complete a form and take an oath;
• secure voted ballots via video surveillance of central processing areas;
• add security protocols for electronic devices inside central counting stations; and
• prioritize certain time-sensitive election-related court proceedings.
The bill also restricts “drive-thru” and 24-hour voting—makeshift procedures used for the first time during COVID that aren’t addressed in Texas election code. Invented by a Texas Democrat Party official serving as Harris County’s top election officer in 2020, Democrats wanted the temporary procedures to become permanent.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-secures-a-win-for-election-integrity/
