AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill that contains new voting restrictions after a Democratic senator filibustered for 15 hours to try to stop the legislation, moving it one step closer to being enacted and increasing pressure on Republicans in the House to reestablish a quorum to move the measure forward.
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Efforts to reestablish a quorum hit another snag Thursday as judges in Harris County issued orders temporarily protecting more than 40 absent House Democrats from arrest. The news was announced by state Rep. Gene Wu (D), who received the same protection Wednesday after filing a writ of habeas corpus, which challenges the grounds for an individual’s detention.
“Now, 44 of my colleagues have the same protections I have, at least temporarily,” Wu said in a statement. “Nobody can detain or drag us back to the House floor against our will.”
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Enrique Marquez, spokesman for House Speaker Dade Phelan (R), predicted the Texas Supreme Court would resolve the issue “in the immediate future” with a ruling that will be binding statewide.
The state Senate voted 18-11 in favor of Senate Bill 1 around 9 a.m. local time, after Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Carol Alvarado left the floor for the first time since 5:50 p.m. Wednesday — the latest long-shot effort by state Democrats to try to stymie passage of the legislation.
Filibuster rules prevented her from eating, sitting down, leaning on her desk, taking a bathroom break or speaking on subjects unrelated to the legislation.
“My friends, voter suppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere,” a clearly weary Alvarado said as she concluded Thursday morning. “As we draw this discussion to an end, it is my sincere hope that civil acts by everyday Texans — from the Senate floor to the ballot box — can help shed the light.”
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“What do we want our democracy to look like?” she continued. “Do we want our state to be more or less inclusive? … Instead of making it easier to vote, [this bill] makes it easier to intimidate. Instead of making it harder to cheat, it makes it harder to vote.”
Shortly after she finished, Sen. Bryan Hughes, the GOP sponsor of the bill, urged its passage, saying the measure contained “simple, common sense reforms.” The chamber swiftly voted in favor.
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Alvarado’s all-night filibuster came a day after Phelan signed arrest warrants for 52 Democrats who have failed to return during the House’s second special session.
After the Senate session concluded, Republican Sen. Bob Hall called the legislation “one of the best bills we’ve passed in a long time.”
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“We made changes, fundamental changes that will benefit all people,” Hall said in an interview. “It doesn’t matter your background, your ethnicity. It’s aimed at everyone in Texas to ensure that every vote counts.”
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Hall said that lawmakers listened to constituents throughout the process and that their feedback helped craft the legislation that was finally passed. “There was a lot of input from all parties in there that, I think, made the bill better,” Hall said. He added: “There is absolutely nothing racist in this bill.”
But Democrats said the legislation will make it harder to vote by mail, impeding seniors and those with disabilities, and will disproportionately affect communities of color.
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Speaking to reporters outside her office, an exhausted and famished Alvarado said as the hours dragged on, she found inspiration in her desk drawer, where she had stored a photo of her father, and in letters from constituents who had had trouble voting in the past. Many were from voters with disabilities who wrote about not being able to walk or drive themselves to vote.
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“And I thought, oh my God, I just need to tough it out and stand here for a few more hours or whatever,” Alvarado said. “Because I’m doing this for them.”
A colleague, Sen. Beverly Powell (D), said she was particularly concerned about access for people such as her father, a decorated World War II veteran whose hand was permanently injured, causing his signature to look different every time.
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“I’m sad that it passed,” Powell said. “You know, you could have expected it, it was inevitable, but we’ll live to fight another day. It’s not over till it’s over.”
Powell said she stayed in the Senate chamber alongside Alvarado, her Democratic colleague, until 2 a.m. before going home for a few hours of sleep. She returned Thursday morning.
“I think Carol did a courageous thing last night,” Powell said on the way back to her office. “That was not easy, in a zillion different ways that people will never understand, but she did a fabulous job.”
Texas House speaker signs arrest warrants for Democrats who broke quorum over voting restrictions
The current version of Senate Bill 1 has fewer restrictions than previous iterations but still faces strong criticism from voting rights advocates.
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All three versions — one introduced in the legislature’s regular session, a second crafted in the initial special session and now a third in the current session — would prohibit drive-through voting and 24-hour voting. Both methods were used last year in Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston and is the nation’s third-largest county.
The latest version of the bill empowers partisan pollwatchers but also requires them to receive a training manual published by the secretary of state, a change aimed at satisfying critics who argued that such neutral instruction was necessary.
Another wrinkle that has been ironed out required people casting early ballots to use the same identification number on an application for an early-voting ballot and on the ballot itself. In the new bill, the numbers must simply be connected to the same individual.
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Other elements would tighten rules around mail voting, bar local jurisdictions from taking their own steps to expand voting access, and establish new rules and penalties for people who help voters such as disabled people or non-English speakers cast their ballots.
Republicans have repeatedly said the bill is meant to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. In a statement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) highlighted language that adds an extra hour of early voting and seeks to protect election machines from tampering over the Internet.
“SB 1 is about ensuring that every Texan trusts the outcome of every election in Texas,” Patrick said in a statement after the bill’s passage. “It increases transparency and ensures the voting rules are the same in every county across the state. It will require that signatures on mail-in ballots are verified so we know that ballots cast by mail belong to the people they say they belong to.”
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Democrats argue that the bill’s more divisive policy changes are unnecessary, since there is little evidence of voter fraud in Texas, and that the bill would erect barriers for voters, specifically people of color, who they say particularly utilized Harris County’s alternative voting options in November.
Alvarado was ready to filibuster the elections bill back in the regular session, but the Senate rules were suspended to bring the bill up to the floor before she was ready to go. This time, she made the decision a couple of days ago, Alvarado said, and sought advice from former Texas senator Wendy Davis (D), who temporarily killed an abortions bill with a 13-hour filibuster in 2013.
“It was little things, like, ‘Did you have any issues with your catheter?’ ” Alvarado said. “It was really nice to have her advice, her encouragement and her guidance.”
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On Wednesday morning, Alvarado gathered a pair of cushy gray sneakers, a back brace and a catheter. She ate breakfast, but that was about it — Alvarado expected to start her filibuster over Senate Bill 1 early, and knew she wouldn’t be able to take bathroom breaks. But the Senate finished other bills first, and her filibuster did not begin until just before 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“I didn’t eat, and then not having water for those, you know, 15 hours. And my back was hurting,” Alvarado said. “This is a real filibuster, and this is to what we want the U.S. Senate to see.”
Texas Democrats have been pushing for federal voting rights protections that would neutralize what they describe as the harmful provisions of Senate Bill 1. And without a quorum in the House, Republicans have been unable to advance that chamber’s version of the bill.
“It is astounding the lengths to which many of my Democrat colleagues will go in order to avoid their elected duties,” Texas House Republican Caucus Chair Jim Murphy said in a statement Thursday. “ … They have made a mockery of the legislative process and our Constitution, and it is high time for their charade to come to an end.”
Patrick said Republicans will not give up on passing the bills, no matter how long it takes.
“The Senate will pass SB 1 over and over again until the House finally has a quorum,” he said in a statement Thursday, the sixth day of a session that could last up to 30 days.
Viebeck reported from Washington.