Voting Rights

The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on SB 47, a bill authorizing political party chairs to demand reviews of the 2020 election. The bill also authorizes political party chairs to demand reviews of future elections, and elevate those reviews to the Secretary of State for further review, with counties paying the entire cost of the processes.

The Abbott administration, in a move clearly intended to placate a President who lost an election nearly a year ago, has announced an inquiry that is clearly part-and-parcel of the sham election review process that has been spreading across the country.

For months, Texans have mobilized against the partisan state legislature's attempts to restrict access to the ballot box and undermine our democracy. We urge our Congressional delegation to swiftly pass the Freedom to Vote Act.

SB 1 was passed with the intent to suppress these votes. The legislation includes provisions that expand the power of partisan poll watchers, limit county election officials’ discretion to adopt safe and secure methods of voting, especially during a pandemic, make it more difficult for voters to receive assistance, and place restrictions on absentee ballots, ballot drop boxes, and early voting.

While Governor Abbott signs legislation designed to make it harder for Texans to vote, tens of thousands of our friends and family are in the hospital fighting for their lives because of his misplaced priorities. 

This is partisan grandstanding at the expense of taxpayers. Common Cause Texas strongly urges the House to vote no on this dangerous legislation and instead focus on preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has killed more than 55,000 of our fellow Texans and has more than 13,000 in the hospital fighting for their lives.