Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Democrats hoped to spend 2021 aggressively expanding voting access. Instead, they are scrapping to put up a fight due to an enduring problem: their failure to flip any state legislative chambers in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s struggles to stop Republicans from enacting new limits on voting procedures in state after state are the latest consequence of Democrats\u2019 doomed drive to win more power<\/a> in state governments last year. Key swing states where Democrats hoped to gain legislative footholds and break up unified GOP control, including Arizona, Florida and Georgia, have instead enacted new laws this year placing limits on mail voting and other election procedures.<\/p>\n Now, Texas \u2014 where Democrats targeted nine state House seats Beto O\u2019Rourke carried in his near-miss Senate campaign but flipped none in 2020 \u2014 is set to follow suit once Democrats run out of procedural obstacles to throw up against a Republican-backed bill that would restrict voters\u2019 access to the polls there, by further limiting mail voting and targeting new practices in the state\u2019s largest county. The legislation was derailed by a dramatic Democratic walkout this weekend, but Republicans will almost assuredly take another pass at it again during a special session later this year.<\/p>\n “We’re using the tools we have. But as the minority party, we can only do that so long,” said Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin-based lawmaker who helped lead the weekend walkout. “We need to ultimately flip this House to be able to stop this right-wing agenda and focus on the needs of Texans.”<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, leadership was emboldened by the fact that Democrats didn\u2019t flip those seats and find their majority in the House,\u201d added state Sen. Beverly Powell, a Fort Worth-area Democrat.<\/p>\n Democrats\u2019 ability to only derail, but not end, the push in Texas left party officials begging congressional Democrats to intervene by passing new federal voting rights legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cThese folks at the legislature have demonstrated that they\u2019re willing to do what it takes, but we need backup,\u201d said Lina Hidalgo, the Democratic chief executive of Houston\u2019s Harris County. \u201cFor better or worse, that challenge stops at the foot of the U.S. Senate. Really, it\u2019s a plea for help.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Republicans are expected to take up a version of their bill \u2014 which failed to pass Sunday after much of the state House Democratic caucus walked out and broke quorum<\/a> \u2014 in a yet-to-be-called special session. The push to restrict voting rules has become a GOP priority in state governments across the country, as former President Donald Trump continues to lie and spread conspiracy theories about the election results.<\/p>\n GOP Gov. Greg Abbott called \u201celection integrity\u201d a \u201cmust-pass emergency\u201d item in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect legislators to have worked out their differences prior to arriving back at the Capitol so that they can hit the ground running to pass legislation,\u201d Abbott said in his statement<\/a>. Abbott also said he would veto<\/a> the part of the budget that funds the legislative branch as retribution, tweeting that there is \u201cno pay for those who abandon their responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n An aide to Abbott said a decision on the timing of the special session was not imminent. Texas and other states are already planning special legislative sessions later this year to address redistricting after the Census Bureau releases local-level population data necessary to draw new political maps.<\/p>\n Republicans\u2019 election bill took aim, in particular, at practices put in place by Harris County, the state\u2019s largest county \u2014 and an increasing source of strength for Democrats.<\/p>\n The bill would have banned drive-through and 24-hour voting, which Harris County officials piloted during the 2020 election. The bill also added further restrictions to mail voting in Texas, on top of existing eligibility requirements that mean most Texas voters are not eligible to cast ballots that way. And it would have banned election authorities from allowing in-person early voting before 1 p.m. on Sundays, which was seen as an attempt to limit \u201cSouls to the Polls\u201d events popular among Black churches. (State Rep. Travis Clardy, a Republican involved in final negotiations of the bill, told NPR News on Tuesday<\/a> the reduction of voting hours on Sunday was a \u201cmistake\u201d and wasn\u2019t intended to be in the final bill.)<\/p>\n