Texas Democrats late Sunday staged a walk out to prevent the state’s Republicans from giving final approval to a sweeping elections reform bill they see as voter suppression.
The Democrats walked out of the House chambers with an hour before the midnight deadline, denying their colleagues across the aisle the quorum they needed to send the Republican priority bill that would enforce a wide-range of restrictions on voting in the state to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott.
The state’s Republican governor issued a statement afterward, saying it was “deeply disappointing” that the bill will not reach his desk and he will add it to a forth coming special session agenda.
“Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session,” he said, adding that the bill “still must pass.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also voiced his support of a special session for S.B. 7.
“The [Texas House] failed the people of Texas tonight,” he said. “No excuse.”
Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt near the end of the session accused the Democrats from the House floor of neglecting to do their jobs.
“We take an oath at the beginning of session and we collect per diem per day to be here on the House floor to do our job on behalf of almost 30 million Texans and I’m seeing that we don’t have a quorum and essentially it looks to me that Democrats left the House floor and they are neglecting duty they swore an oath to do,” he said.
The walkout followed Rep. Chris Turner, the party’s chairman, issuing instructions to his fellow Democrats to “take your key and leave the chamber discreetly,” via a 10:35 p.m. text message shared with The Washington Post and The Texas Tribune.
The Democratic Party defended their walkout, saying they used Texas House rules to stop the passing of the Republican’s “restrictive, anti-voter legislation, that makes it harder for seniors, people who are disabled and people of color to vote.”
Turner said his party members were prepared to give speeches against S.B.7 to run out the session time until it became apparent to them the Republicans were going to try and cut debate short to “ram through their vote suppression legislation.”
“At that point, we had no choice but to take extraordinary measures to protect our constituents and their right to vote,” he said in a statement. “Republicans have only themselves to blame for the way this session is ending.”
From Mt. Zion Church in East Austin, the Democrats congregated for a press conference where Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, who is also vice chair of the elections committee, expressed her pride in the actions of her party members and frustration with those of her Republican colleagues.
“Enough is enough,” she said.
She explained the sweeping bill was fashioned behind closed doors and those on the elections committee, especially Democratic women, were silenced during negotiations.
“There have been dishonest brokers in the entire process. As many of you have seen, when this bill came to the floor we thought we’d be able to have a serious conversation, a real conversation, because this bill affects every single person in the state of Texas, including Republicans,” she said. “And we were told time and time again of the secretary of state that our elections were safe and secure.”
“So, really, this is just a witch hunt, a witch hunt that is aimed at people of color,” she said.
The legislation made it to the House floor after it passed the Senate earlier Sunday along party lines 18-13.
Among restrictions in the bill are bans on drive-through and 24-hour voting, restrictions on early and curbside voting and increases in felony penalties on election officials as well as voters and people offering voting assistance, including those who mail ballot applications to residents who had not requested one.
President Joe Biden on Saturday called the legislation “un-American” and “part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year — and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.”
“In the 21st century, we should be making it easier, not harder, for every eligible voter to vote,” he said in a statement.
The bill is the latest Republican effort following those in Florida and Georgia to put restrictions on state’s voting laws following November’s election that saw Biden win the presidency from former President Donald Trump.
Despite officials stating the 2020 election was safe and secure, Republicans have been defending the bills as moves to prevent voter fraud and to maintain election integrity.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas called the Republican defeat a “victory for democracy and those who defend civil liberties.”
“One of the ugliest anti-voter bills in the country died today in the 2021 Texas Legislature,” Sarah Labowitz, policy and advocacy director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. “Democratic lawmakers broke quorum in a courageous move that shows just how hard Texans will fight to protect their constitutional right to vote.”
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They got away with stealing a major election—they don’t want anything messing with that—especially since they want to keep doing it.
Despite dishonorable, dishonest, unethical, corrupt, socialist Democrat officials stating the 2020 election was safe and secure… Huh?
The dishonorable Democrat Party revolves around and its philosophy is based on Control, Hate, Lies, Cons, Deceptions, Immorality and the lack of Integrity, Ethics or Honor.
Since its founding in 1829, the Democratic Party has fought against every major civil rights initiative, and has a long history of discrimination.
The Democratic Party defended slavery, started the Civil War, opposed Reconstruction, founded the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), imposed segregation, perpetrated Lynchings, and fought against the civil rights acts of the 1950s and 1960s.
This Dishonorable liberal Democrat crusade has little or nothing to do with protecting the sensitivities of Black Americans and everything to do with the Democrats setting themselves up as their saviors. Their practice of patronizing groups cannot yield to the facts. For their cause is not defending the oppressed or the offended but about making themselves look wonderful with their latest destructive political Con.
PITY The reps couldn’t say “FINE IF YOU don’t wanna be here, then WE WILL DO LIKE CONGRESS DID< and pass it without you anyway!"
I want the Democrats to walk out. I want the Democrats to walk out of our Country permanently. With the Democrats walking out of our Country permanently, we will not have any mental illness in our Country.
ONLY IF we remove their citizenship, and STOP PAYING THEM once they leave.
“So, really, this is just a witch hunt, a witch hunt that is aimed at people of color,” she said.????,,,well having placed destiny of the black community into the hands of the Democrat Witch Doctors for the past 50 years with the result that much of their communities are dead or on total government life support, it is far past time to follow the science, not their religion of death, and ignore their Voo Doo politics, where they believe the only way to win in election is to bite off the heads of your opponents in the media, like their counter part Democrat Witch Doctors bite off the heads of their chickens, and peck out those hanging chads in our election vote counts.
Funny then, how not ONE OF THOSE DEMS who ranted “its racist to demand voter ID”, have said a DAMN THING About why its NOT RACIST to demand ‘proof of vaccination”..
Expected and planned. There is still time. Special session. It is hard for me to believe that so many people are opposed to voter ID.
That’s cause they have been BRAINWASHED by the media, into thinking Voter ID is somehow racist.
The left is against any regulation or requirement that would make it harder for them to cheat. Its hard for them to make a case that dead people need to be allowed to vote (even though we know that they do) so when something which obviously makes sense like needing an I.D. to vote is proposed they do what they always do when confronted with a truth with which they disagree… They play the race card!
Hopefully this gets done in special session, but if not it may be time for action by executive order because what happened in 2020 should not, would not and can not ever happen again, but most definately will if democrats have their way.
Gov. Abbott should call a special session. The first order of business for the TX House, if allowed by the TX Constitution, should be to change the Quorum requirement to 50% + 1 member, pass the legislation, and get it to Abbott.
Then, after passing that critical legislation, change the House rules to: disallow non-attendance of House sessions without a notarized medical excuse from a Dr. holding a license to practice in TX and maintaining an office within the district being represented; when any Rep is not in attendance at their seat the total number of “Reps eligible to vote” is reduced by one so the 50% + 1 requirement for passage will be a smaller number; and 3 consecutive unexcused non-attendance times results in loss of any leadership or committee assignments. If the Communists don’t like it, they can resign their seats and said seats can be vacant [non-present to vote, as per above] until filled by a special election in the district to be held within 30 days.
Also add in a “IF YOU willingly walk out of session, you FORFEIT YOUR PAY CHECK for that month!”
THESE ******* DUMBOCRATS MUST THINK THAT ALL COLORED PEOPLE ARE STUPID AND IGNORANT. Otherwise what is their jackass reasoning for not allowing “justified” votes from occurring??? Do they think that colored people cannot read, do they not think that colored people can drive a car, do they not think that older people can get to the polls, just like they always have thru the decades?? They want to be assured that the same kind of stealing and cheating can occur during the 2022 elections, and the 2024 election for President. They want to be guaranteed that they will “??win again” by not doing it legally.
Since blacks, latinos etc STILL VOTE FOR DEMS IN MASS NUMBERS< they unfortunately, keep being proven RIGHT..
Send law enforcement out to haul one of the Dem bums back to make a quorum like the US Senate can do if needed.
Just the amount of lying, kicking & screaming the Dems & liberal left militants do to obstruct voting integrity & security proves they know they can’t win an election without cheating & fraud.
BS claim #1 re: eligible seniors & disabled: They are allowed to request & receive mail-in ballots with no problem.
BS claim #2 re: black / brown voter suppression: Ensuring voting integrity applies to all races.
Dems / ACLU should compile a database of black / brown people who claim they are unable to meet same requirements to vote as white people & let rest of us know what is their problem.
White voters would like to know why & exactly who are the never identified black / brown people who are unable to prove their eligibility to vote or to provide photo ID or to go to the polls in the time allotted just like white people do?
if the left does not want this to pass then because it wipes out there cheating ways.