Houston Chronicle: New Texas House election committee chairs fought 2020 results, faced discrimination claims

Houston Chronicle: New Texas House election committee chairs fought 2020 results, faced discrimination claims

“Texas already makes it harder to vote than any other state. Rep. Briscoe being put in charge of the Elections Committee is a clear signal that the politicians in charge intend to make it even harder,” Anthony Gutierrez, the head of Common Cause Texas, a non-partisan public-interest group, said in a statement. “We’ll be fighting to stop them at every step.”

The lawmaker picked to oversee voting legislation in the Texas House helped former President Donald Trump try to overturn the election results in November. The member who will take the lead on redrawing state and congressional districts for the next decade was accused last time of trying to disenfranchise Latino voters.

On Thursday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced his picks for committee chairs, coveted roles that will help decide what bills live and die this year in the state Legislature. Two of the selections, Rep. Briscoe Cain for the Elections Committee and Rep. Todd Hunter in the Redistricting Committee, are already raising concerns among voting rights advocates for their past political stances.

Cain, R-Deer Park, was one of several lawyers who volunteered for the Trump campaign’s failed effort to throw out the election results in Pennsylvania, traveling to Philadelphia and interviewing poll workers and watchers. He declined Thursday to say whether he believes the federal election results were legitimate, or that the Pennsylvania lawsuits were adequately vetted. …

“Texas already makes it harder to vote than any other state. Rep. Briscoe being put in charge of the Elections Committee is a clear signal that the politicians in charge intend to make it even harder,” Anthony Gutierrez, the head of Common Cause Texas, a non-partisan public-interest group, said in a statement. “We’ll be fighting to stop them at every step.”