Houston Chronicle (Op-Ed): Election integrity or suppression? Gov. Abbott is taking aim at voting rights.

Houston Chronicle (Op-Ed): Election integrity or suppression? Gov. Abbott is taking aim at voting rights.

There is cause for fresh alarm over voting rights in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott revealed his priorities for the 2021 Texas Legislative session, designating “election integrity” as an emergency item that lawmakers can vote on within the first 60 days of session, potentially bypassing the due deliberation and public input this issue deserves. House Speaker Dade Phelan named Rep. Briscoe Cain as the chair of the House Elections Committee, despite his notoriety for traveling to Pennsylvania to help overthrow the results of the 2020 election. These actions signal an escalating attack on voting rights in a state that is infamous for being among the hardest in the nation to cast a ballot. It feeds and amplifies dangerously false rhetoric designed to undermine trust in our democratic system and prioritize partisan interests over the will of the people — exactly what fueled the failed white supremacist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol just weeks ago.

There is cause for fresh alarm over voting rights in Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott revealed his priorities for the 2021 Texas Legislative session, designating “election integrity” as an emergency item that lawmakers can vote on within the first 60 days of session, potentially bypassing the due deliberation and public input this issue deserves. House Speaker Dade Phelan named Rep. Briscoe Cain as the chair of the House Elections Committee, despite his notoriety for traveling to Pennsylvania to help overthrow the results of the 2020 election.

These actions signal an escalating attack on voting rights in a state that is infamous for being among the hardest in the nation to cast a ballot. It feeds and amplifies dangerously false rhetoric designed to undermine trust in our democratic system and prioritize partisan interests over the will of the people — exactly what fueled the failed white supremacist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol just weeks ago.

Opponents of democracy rely on unconscionable double-speak to assert there must be “trust and confidence in the outcome of our elections,” without ever acknowledging the complicity of the state’s leadership — Sen. Ted Cruz, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — in undermining the trust and confidence the people hold in our democratic processes.

Abbott, Cain and their co-conspirators are willfully perpetuating distrust in democracy to hold on to power in Texas. Partisan actors have been chasing the specter of voter fraud for years, scaring Texans and funneling misinformation about the integrity of our elections to sow seeds of doubt and mistrust. It’s not new or surprising — their true mission is to continue Texas’s 150-year-old pattern of voter suppression.

State leadership, over the years, has wasted millions of tax-payer dollars while passing discriminatory laws that restrict access to the ballot box. Their steadfast refusal to move Texas into the 21st century in terms of both modernizing our election infrastructure and abolishing Jim Crow-era voting restrictions to make our democracy equitable is beyond shameful. Texas’ voter registration process, the most onerous in the country, demonstrates this point: Texas is among only nine states to not offer online voter registration, its 30-day deadline to register is tied for earliest in the country.

We don’t know exactly what they have planned for their latest assault on voting rights but Gov. Abbott pointed to the 2019 Senate Bill 9 as a starting point; that iniquitous bill would have further institutionalized voter suppression and intimidation by criminalizing honest mistakes on voter registration forms and allowing partisan poll watchers to look over the shoulders of voters inside the poll booths in certain circumstances.

So far this session, Sen. Paul Bettencourt has a bill to prevent counties from proactively sending vote by mail applications to registered voters. We’re also alarmed by a bill by Rep. Mayes Middleton that would strip local control over voter registration from county election officials and consolidate sole power over the voter registration rolls under the secretary of state, which has a record of improper purges.

We are in a critical crossroads for our democracy. As we detailed in our latest report, Defending Democracy, the challenges that Texas voters face are unrivaled. While encouraging, the increased turnout we saw in 2020 does not mean that our elections are administered fairly and equitably. Texas still has restrictive registration and ID laws and works tirelessly to further limit access for historically disenfranchised groups. We saw that in the last election when Texas was one of the only states that refused to expand access to vote by mail despite the ongoing pandemic that is disproportionately affecting communities of color. And we saw it when Gov. Abbott ordered Texas counties to shut down multiple ballot drop-off locations that would have made voting easier and safer. Even with increased engagement and enthusiasm around voting, Texas’s democracy is overwhelmed with structural barriers to democratic participation.

If Gov. Abbott and the other politicians in charge actually cared about the integrity of our elections, they would let Texas vote. They would clearly denounce the partisan myths about our democratic process that they’ve been spreading for years. They would stop passing laws that put up barriers that affect some groups more than others. They would reflect on the gravity of the attack on the will of the people at the U.S. Capitol. They would reflect on their actions and, in a moment of true leadership, begin to tear down the barriers they sustain. They would work to reform our democracy, ensuring it lives up to its promise of equity, justice and accountability.

But that’s not what they’re doing. It’s up to us — the people of the great state of Texas — to do what current leadership refuses. Texans value our democracy and the right to vote. We must do everything in our power to block their voter suppression agenda this legislative session. Our democracy is at stake. We must all stand up to demand and defend, better democracy for all.

Gómez is the associate director of Common Cause Texas.