Abuse of Power

Last week, Common Cause Texas released this deeply alarming video in which we hear the presenter call for volunteer poll watchers who will have the "courage" to go from the predominantly Anglo Harris County suburbs to the Black and Brown communities in the urban core.  The video has now been viewed over 100k times on Twitter, and has been the focus of national news stories on NBC, CNN, the Washington Post and many others.  With SB 7 voted out of the state senate, and HB 6 voted out the house elections committee, both are a path to soon be eligible to be brought up for debate on the floor of the state house.  Today, Common Cause Texas launched a pressure campaign aiming to make sure Speaker Phelan sees this video and rejects the dangerous expansion of poll watcher powers by keeping the proposed bills from being brought to the floor.

Last month, Governor Abbott designated “election integrity” an emergency item, allowing the legislature to prioritize bills within that topic. After weeks of vague reports of an omnibus bill being in the works - Senate Bill 7 was introduced late last night.