It was 10:35 p.m. Suddenly, every Democrat still on the floor got a text message. “Members, take your key and leave the chamber discreetly. Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building.”
Texas Democrats walked out of the chamber to prevent the vote. The proposed legislation would ban drive-thru voting, restrict mail-in ballots and push back early voting hours in Texas.AUSTIN, Texas -- Midnight was coming fast. Any moment now, the Texas House of Representatives would sign off on one of the most restrictive new voting laws in America.“Members, take your key and leave the chamber discreetly. Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building.
The rebellion gave Democrats and voting rights allies nationwide a morale-raising moment after months of racking up losses in GOP-controlled statehouses, where Republicans have rushed to enact a wave of strict voting laws in response to former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Coming in at 67 pages long, the Texas bill would have reduced polling hours, empowered poll watchers and scaled back ways to vote. It included a ban on drive-thru voting centers and 24-hour polling places, both of which were used last year around Houston, reflecting how Republicans went after Texas' largest Democratic stronghold.
Hours before the vote was set to take place Sunday, Democrats packed into a back room with Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan. “We’ve been getting example after example in Republican state legislatures, and this is the culmination in terms of its raw racism and cutting back of the ability for brown and Black voters to vote,” said Fred Wertheimer, founder of the voting rights group Democracy 21. “The way they’re fighting in Texas tells a story of just how bad this legislation is and how Democrats are prepared to do everything they can conceive of to stop this legislation from happening.
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