Texas Democrats file alternative to GOP voting bill

Texas Senate Democrats introduced voting rights legislation on Friday that would expand voter registration efforts and the period for early voting as an alternative to two Republican-sponsored bills.

Senate Bill 61, dubbed the Barbara Jordan Fair Elections Act in honor of the first Black woman elected to the Texas state Senate, would allow online voter registration, automatically register people to vote once they receive their driver’s license and expand existing opportunities to vote by mail, among other provisions. 

“The act respects Texans’ ability to choose how they would cast their ballot by expanding the use of vote by mail and expanding the early voting period,” state Sen. Royce West (D) said, according to CBS DFW.

Two GOP voting bills, Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3, are scheduled for committee hearings on Saturday. Senate Democrats have argued that the pieces of legislation restrict access to voting by adding an ID requirement for mail-in voting, banning late-night voting and establishing harsher penalties for voter fraud, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Democrats have also claimed that the Republican-backed legislation would limit hours to suppress voting, though Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) said voting hours would be lengthened.

“There’s nothing in Senate Bill One, nothing that restricts people from voting. Nothing,” Patrick said, according to CBS DFW.

West, the primary author of the Democratic-sponsored bill, acknowledged it was unlikely to receive a hearing. But Senate Democrats said their goal was to illustrate the difference between their bill and the two GOP voting bills, according to the American-Statesman.

“In all probability, we won’t get a hearing” on the Barbara Jordan Act, the primary author of the Democratic-sponsored bill said, according to the American-Statesman. “I doubt very seriously, but we are going to be pushing for it to get a hearing.”