The Texas Senate on Thursday passed a GOP-backed voting reform bill despite hurdles from Democratic lawmakers.
Legislators voted 18-11, along party lines, to pass Senate Bill 1, a piece of legislation that would ban drive-thru voting, implement more comprehensive voter identification requirements for mail-in ballots, and prohibit officials from sending voting applications to those who did not request them, among other things.
The vote was preceded by a 15-hour filibuster effort from Sen. Carol Alvarado, who stood and spoke before the chamber without sitting down or using the bathroom for the duration of her attempt to stonewall the proposal. Alvarado, who acknowledged that her theatrics would likely have no effect on the bill’s inevitable passage in a Republican-majority legislative body, lashed out against many of the legislation’s components.
“What’s wrong with drive-thru voting during a pandemic? What’s wrong with 24-hour voting? Why can’t we have expanded voting hours for the people who have to work late? Where is all the so-called fraud?” she said. “Where does it end?
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SB 1 previously cleared the Senate in a party-line vote in July, though since then, Gov. Greg Abbott commissioned a separate special session after nearly 60 House Democrats fled the state’s Capitol and boarded private planes to Washington, D.C., in a bid to strip the chamber of its necessary two-thirds quorum to do business. The absent lawmakers have been vocal in their opposition to SB 1 and House Bill 3, another piece of legislation pertaining to GOP voting demands.
The lawmakers have been gone for nearly one month, and few have returned to Austin for either of Abbott’s special sessions.
On Tuesday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan approved 52 civil arrest warrants, which allow Lone Star State authorities to place members in custody and return them to the Capitol in Austin. The move is a step up from a previous decision that authorized law enforcement to locate the elusive legislators “under warrant of arrest if necessary.”
Earlier in the week, the Texas Supreme Court blocked a restraining order, which forbade Abbott and other lawmakers from corralling the absent Democrats, paving the way for Phelan’s move.
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The Democrat excursion to Washington, D.C., has not been without controversy as at least six of the lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 after they fled the state. Last month, state Rep. Armando Walle projected the cost of the trip would top $1.5 million by the time it concludes, and questions have subsequently been raised regarding whether or not taxpayers will be footing the bill.
Democrats have insisted that no taxpayer funds are being used in the trip, but their Republican counterparts have posited that upward of $1 million will be paid by residents due to the prolonging of a special session. Phelan has since requested the Democrats return their $221 per day wages, which are granted during special sessions, if they’re outside of the Lone Star State.
