{"id":1509,"date":"2024-12-19T08:41:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/?post_type=press&#038;p=1509"},"modified":"2024-12-19T08:55:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:55:29","slug":"breaking-texas-voting-rights-groups-ask-house-representatives-to-consider-voters-when-selecting-speaker","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/breaking-texas-voting-rights-groups-ask-house-representatives-to-consider-voters-when-selecting-speaker\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Texas Voting Rights Groups Urge House to Prioritize Voters in Speaker Selection"},"template":"","class_list":["post-1509","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"A qualified Speaker candidate will protect existing voting rights of Texans and oppose any legislation that creates new barriers to voting\r\n","featured_image":"","press_type":false,"authors":"","related_issues":false,"related_work":false,"location":52},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<b>AUSTIN - <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, nine nonpartisan voting rights groups sent a letter to the Texas House Republican Caucus and the Texas House Democratic Caucus, calling on all members of the Texas House of Representatives to prioritize Texas voters when selecting their Speaker for the 89th Legislative Session.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joining this request are the ACLU of Texas, Clean Elections Texas, Common Cause Texas, Every Texan, Houston Area Urban League, League of Women Voters of Texas, Progress Texas Institute, Texas Civil Rights Project, and Vote Riders, and Legal Defense Fund.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>In response to the sign-on letter, Emily Eby French, policy director of Common Cause Texas issued the following statement:\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Speaker of the House is one of the most powerful positions in the state.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAt bare minimum, a qualified Speaker of the House should agree to protect the voting rights of all eligible Texans. Texas voter turnout was down in both solid red counties <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> big blue counties. Increasing voter access should be a bipartisan goal.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhoever ends up with the Speaker\u2019s gavel will be able to choose between advancing laws that bring more eligible Texans to the polls or raising up more barriers to democracy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMembers should look for a Speaker who will oppose any legislation that creates new barriers to voting and safeguard existing voter access programs, like High School Voter Registration and Countywide Polling. An ideal Speaker would bring Texas voters into the 21st century by implementing proactive reforms like Online Voter Registration.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re asking our representatives to select a candidate who will serve the Texas voters who elected them.Common Cause Texas believes that all Texans, regardless of their party affiliation, will benefit from greater access to the ballot box.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A full copy of the letter can be found <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Letter-Texas-Voting-Rights-Groups-Urge-House-to-Prioritize-Voters-in-Speaker-Selection.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Texas Voting Rights Groups Urge House to Prioritize Voters in Speaker Selection - Common Cause Texas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cAt bare minimum, a qualified Speaker of the House should agree to protect the voting rights of all eligible Texans. Texas voter turnout was down in both solid red counties and big blue counties. Increasing voter access should be a bipartisan goal,&quot; said Emily Eby French, policy director of Common Cause Texas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/breaking-texas-voting-rights-groups-ask-house-representatives-to-consider-voters-when-selecting-speaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Texas Voting Rights Groups Urge House to Prioritize Voters in Speaker Selection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAt bare minimum, a qualified Speaker of the House should agree to protect the voting rights of all eligible Texans. Texas voter turnout was down in both solid red counties and big blue counties. 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