Texas Democrats in the state House are preparing to leave Texas and fly to Washington D.C. in an effort to again block a GOP attempt to pass voting restrictions in the special legislative session that started last week.

They’ll need at least 51 of the 67 Democratic representatives to flee for their plan to work. The House is set to reconvene Tuesday morning, but the absent Democrats would mean there will not be enough members present to conduct business under House rules.

Democrats — who are the minority party — walked out in the final hours of the regular legislative session in May, causing the House to lose its quorum and killing the voting legislation.

Republican leaders mum on Democrat departure

The state’s top Republican leaders have not yet publicly commented on a potential quorum break by House Democrats, leaving uncertain what action if any will be taken if members of the state’s minority party end up leaving the state in an attempt to block the GOP-backed election legislation.

The office of House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who oversees the lower chamber, had not responded to a request for comment as of Tuesday afternoon. Neither had spokespeople for Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Under House rules, Phelan can order the chamber doors to be locked or direct law enforcement to go after lawmakers who have already left the House if enough members support it. If a quorum is not present when the lower chamber convenes Tuesday, House members can move to make what’s known as a call of the House. That motion must then be seconded by 15 members and ordered by a majority vote.

It’s less clear what options the chamber may have if Democrats are outside the state.

Previously, Phelan has said he would not order the locking of chamber doors or the arresting of House members — a position that prompted criticism from Patrick, who said the speaker needed to take a harder line against Democrats.

More recently, Phelan has suggested that all options could be on the table if Democrats attempted a second quorum break during the special session.

“My Democratic colleagues have been quoted saying all options are on the table” with the voting bill, Phelan told KXAN-TV before the special session started. “Respectfully, all options are on the table for myself as well.” — Cassi Pollock

Vice President Kamala Harris praised the Texas House Democrats who are planning to leave the state in protest of Republicans’ priority election legislation.

During an event about voting rights in Detroit, Harris said the Democrats were “showing extraordinary courage and commitment.”

“I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered,” Harris said. “I will say that they are leaders who are marching in the path that so many others before did, when they fought and many died for our right to vote.” Harris added that she believes “fighting for the right to vote is as American as apple pie.”

Harris is familiar with the situation in Texas. Last month, she met with Democrats in the Legislature after they staged a walkout that killed the elections proposal in the regular session. – Patrick Svitek

What’s in the voting bill?

The GOP-backed legislation currently up for consideration in many ways resembles the voting bill, known as Senate Bill 7, that Democrats derailed when they broke quorum in May. Like with that failed legislation, civil rights groups, voting rights advocates and local officials remain in staunch opposition to the new bills, which have also raised concerns among disability rights advocates.

Last week, Republicans filed Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3 to renew their efforts to prohibit many of the voting initiatives taken up by Harris County — the state’s largest county that is home to Houston and a diverse population — in 2020 to widen access to voting. Harris County pioneered the use of drive-thru voting to allow people to vote from their cars and overnight early voting hours for one day. The overnight voting was meant to reach voters like shift workers for whom the usual 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours are not convenient. Local officials have said both efforts proved particularly successful in reaching voters of color.

The bills carry over other measures from the failed SB 7 to bolster protections for partisan poll watchers and create new rules — and potential penalties — for people who assist people in casting their ballots, including those who help voters with disabilities. They also further clamp down on the state’s voting-by-mail rules, including a ban on local officials proactively sending out applications to request a mail-in ballot, even to voters 65 and older who automatically qualify to vote by mail.

Republicans in the Senate are also going beyond that failed bill to introduce a new proposal that would compel the Texas secretary of state to carry out monthly citizenship reviews of the state’s voter rolls. — Alexa Ura

Beto O’Rourke calls for donations to help Democrats leaving Texas

Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, sent out a fundraising plea to back the Democrats leaving Texas on Monday.

“Let’s support Texas House Democrats as they take the fight to our nation’s capitol to inspire the U.S. Senate to do their part.Please donate to ensure they have the resources to fight for as long as it takes!,” he said in the tweet.

O’Rourke has been using his political capital over the past few months to rally against efforts by Republicans to pass voting restrictions in Texas.

What’s the latest on where the voting bill stands?

Texas Republicans moved quickly in their second attempt to pass the new restrictions, advancing them out of Senate and House committees just two days before the new bills were revealed to the public.

Lawmaker panels in both chambers voted to approve the measures, with slight tweaks, on Sunday following lengthy public hearings that began Saturday afternoon and extended into the next day as they heard hours of testimony mostly against the proposals.

In the House, Texans faced a 17-hour wait before public testimony began at 1:41 a.m. Sunday, which meant some left without being able to address lawmakers on the chamber’s bill. A vast majority of the Texans who registered a position on the bill — 407 of 484 members of the public —were in opposition, according to the committee’s registration figures.

The Republican authors of the bills — state Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola and state Rep. Andrew Murr of Junction — both defended the efforts as proposals meant to reduce the likelihood of fraud in Texas elections, even though there is no evidence that it occurs on a widespread basis. Meanwhile, Democrats questioned the intent of the legislation and argued it would raise new barriers for marginalized voters, including people of color and people with disabilities. — Alexa Ura

This article was written by TEXAS TRIBUNE STAFF  of The Texas Tribune.  The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.  This article originally appeared at: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/12/texas-democrats-walk-out-voting-bill/

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