Bill opens door to reversing elections
Despite no evidence of substantial voter fraud in Texas, Republicans are preparing to pass sweeping voting legislation with new provisions that make it easier to overturn an election in which fraudulent votes are suspected and to lower the standard for proving fraud in criminal court.
The burden of proof for voter fraud charges in Texas is “clear and convincing evidence.” The bill would change that standard to “preponderance of the evidence.”
A related measure would allow a judge to overturn an election if the total number of ballots found to be fraudulent exceeds the margin of victory. In such cases, a judge could “declare the election void without attempting to determine how individual voters voted.”
“If you don’t have to show that they would have made a difference, then even ‘illegal votes’ or ‘fraudulent votes’ for your side get factored into that equation,” said Tommy Buser-Clancy, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. “This is just a perpetuation of the Big Lie, and as we’ve seen throughout the nation, this is a further weaken
ing of the institutional strength of our democracy.”
The new provisions are last-minute additions to Senate Bill 7, legislation that has drawn the ire of Democratic and civil rights groups that have called it voter suppression since its first draft. The final version of the bill hadn’t been posted online as of early Friday evening — and was not made available to the public — but the Houston Chronicle obtained a copy.
The compromise bill still contains a number of restrictions largely aimed at big cities, especially Houston, which came up with new voting expansions during the pandemic. It was also the major cities that heavily backed President Joe Biden and gave the Democrats their best showing in a presidential election in Texas in over 40 years.
The bill includes limitation of early voting hours and bans on drive-thru voting, mail ballot drop boxes and mass mailing of mail ballot applications. It also adds other new provisions, many of which will complicate voting by mail, such as a requirement that voters with disabilities disclose the type of impairment they have that renders them unable to vote in person.
Provisions cut
A few of the provisions most harshly criticized by opponents, meanwhile, have been removed. The bill no longer limits the number of polling places and voting machines in large Texas counties. Another provision that has been removed would have permitted poll watchers to make recordings of voters receiving assistance if they believed they were witnessing unlawful activity.
The Republican authors of the legislation — House Elections Committee Chair Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola — have continually said their goal is to increase “election integrity” and assure that only legally eligible voters cast ballots.
“SB 7 is one of the most comprehensive and sensible election reform bills in Texas history,” they said in a joint statement. “There is nothing more foundational to this democracy and our state than the integrity of our elections. … Even as the national media minimizes the importance of election integrity, the Texas Legislature has not bent to headlines or corporate virtue signaling.”
In a statement Saturday, Biden described the legislation as “wrong and unAmerican” and referred to it in the same light as measures approved in other states. As of May 14, 14 states had enacted 22 new laws with provisions that make it harder for Americans to vote, putting the country on track to pass the most voting rights restraints since 2011, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
“Today, Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote,” Biden said. “It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year — and often disproportionately targeting Black and brown Americans.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo also denounced the bill as undemocratic.
“It’s gut-wrenching. Worse than the original bills. This CAN and must be stopped,” Hidalgo wrote on Twitter. “Everyone who
believes in our democracy & protecting the legacy of those who fought and died for it must speak up.”
Late-night push
In a surprise maneuver, the Texas Senate voted along party lines Saturday night to scrap its usual rules and force a debate and vote on the bill after 10 p.m., over the objections of Democrats. The 13 Democrats in the Senate expected the bill to be debated and voted on Sunday until Hughes made the motion to push the bill through late Saturday instead.
State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, questioned why Republicans pushed to debate such a major bill in the dead of night on a holiday weekend when most Texans wouldn’t be able to tune in. He noted major changes have been made to the bill, leaving lawmakers almost no time to communicate with elections experts in their home cities and counties.
“How did you decide 10 p.m. tonight was the right time?” Menéndez asked Hughes. “If we are going to
be getting into a 100-page bill that affects how everyone in this state is going to be voting, registering to vote, running elections, does that not seem like we’re really not doing it when the public can be watching?”
Though there are substantial changes that were made in closed-door private session with House members, Hughes said he will give Senate members a closed-door private briefing on all the changes — one that neither the public nor the media would hear. Hughes said the public had a chance to weigh in on the bill back in March during a public hearing.
The Texas House is expected to bring up the bill on Sunday.
Although Texas had no reports of mass voter fraud in 2020, Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican leaders in the Legislature insist they have to make the state’s election systems more secure. For the GOP, it’s the fulfillment of a major priority after the 2020 presidential election, when former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that widespread
election fraud cost him the White House. Even in Texas, Trump has said without proof that his margin of victory was probably bigger than what was reported.
Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs resigned last week after the Republicanled Senate failed to confirm her appointment. A top deputy of Hughs had publicly described the state’s 2020 election as “smooth and secure,” as lawmakers were gearing up to push legislation such as SB 7.
Cain, who is an attorney, was named chairman of the Elections Committee after he traveled to Pennsylvania to help Trump’s legal team in its efforts to overturn the presidential election results last year. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also led an effort to reverse election results in four battleground states with a Supreme Court bid that was immediately rejected.
“This is the same person who was trying to participate in the overthrow of the 2020 election, who is now trying to make it easier to do the same in Texas,” Buser-Clancy said. “It’s equally alarming.”