Texas Scorecard by Erin Anderson March 12, 2021
Election integrity is a top legislative priority for the Texas GOP and the only one also designated an emergency item by Gov. Abbott.Just ahead of this week’s deadline, Texas lawmakers in both chambers filed two big bills addressing election integrity, one of the key priorities for the legislative session.
The highly anticipated omnibus bills, House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7, feature long lists of election procedures and ballot security measures identified by advocates as needed reforms to improve voting reliability and voter confidence—including a curb on mail-ballot vote harvesters.
Election integrity is a top legislative priority for the Texas GOP and the only one also designated an emergency item by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
Both bills are likely to receive extensive debate and undergo revisions in committee before making their way to the House and Senate floors. Republicans hold a majority in both chambers.
SB 7, introduced Thursday and immediately referred to committee, is authored by State Sen. Brian Hughes (R–Mineola), along with 12 fellow Republican senators. Hughes chairs the Senate State Affairs Committee, which hears election-related bills in the upper chamber.
Hughes’ bill addresses a range of election issues, including voter registration and voter roll maintenance, voting by mail procedures, security and oversight at polling places and counting stations, and civil penalties for election code violations.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-lawmakers-file-major-election-integrity-bills/