Stateline/McClatchy/Miami Herald: Republican wave of voting restrictions swells

Voting rights activists worried this year could bring a tsunami of new voting restrictions. It’s arrived.

As of last month, Republican lawmakers in 43 states had introduced more than 250 bills that would make it more difficult to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School, up from about 100 in 28 states two months ago. …

In Texas, Republicans are seeking to ban counties from sending mail-in ballot applications to all voters and to limit drive-thru voting. Other legislation would require that voters with disabilities provide documented proof of their disability before being allowed to vote absentee. Another bill would mandate that rural areas in the state have the same number of voting machines as urban areas despite the lower population in rural areas, which tend to lean Republican.

Many of these bills seem to target Harris County, which includes Houston. Before the 2020 presidential election, officials in the Houston area attempted to send mail-in ballot applications to all voters. They were stopped by the Texas Supreme Court in October. Election officials there also offered drive-thru voting, which accounted for 127,000 votes in November. …

Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of Common Cause Texas, a voting rights organization, is not surprised by the legislation in the Lone Star State, but he is alarmed.

“They’re at the forefront of finding new and innovative ways to suppress the vote,” he said of Texas Republicans. “These are blatant attempts to keep people from voting.”