Texas House Advances Election Integrity Bill After AWOL Democrats Forced to Return

The number one enemy of the party of treason and despotism is free and fair elections., Expect bloody pushback.

Texas House Advances Election Reform Bill After Democrats End Holdout

By Zachary Stieber, August 27, 2021 Updated: August 27, 2021

The Texas House of Representatives late Thursday advanced an election reform bill that’s widely opposed by Democrats.

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The state’s lower chamber voted 79-37 to advance Senate Bill 1, which the state Senate passed earlier this month.

The state House has a final vote scheduled Friday. After the expected passage, the amended legislation will go back to the state Senate.

Republicans control both legislative chambers in Texas, and also hold the governor’s mansion. Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the bill.

Lawmakers spent hours debating amendments, diving into how the proposed alterations would affect existing law. State Reps. Andrew Murr and Rafael Anchía took about 10 minutes to debate an amendment Murr authored that would emphasize that poll watchers couldn’t be with a voter when that person is voting.

The amendment was ultimately rejected, as were most that were proposed.

Texas House Democrats walked out of the state Capitol in May, preventing passage of election reform bills, before fleeing the state in July after Abbott called a special legislative session.

That meant the House didn’t have a quorum, so Republicans could not consider bills even though they control the state’s lower chamber 82-66.

Democrats ended their holdout on Monday.