Houston Democrats And Civic Leaders Lash Out Against Texas GOP-Backed Voting Restrictions
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo teamed-up Monday with numerous Democratic elected officials and other community leaders to decry sweeping statewide voting restrictions proposed by Texas Republicans, and to persuade state businesses to use their clout to speak out against new voting limits that critics claim would take Texas back to the racist Jim Crow era.
Turner specifically called out Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, two Republican-backed measures that would ban drive-thru voting, would require disabled voters to provide proof from a doctor of their condition to vote by mail and would limit early voting hours among other restrictions, for being “part of a national campaign to restrict people’s right to vote.”
Hidalgo argued these bills, along with a controversial slate of voting limitations recently signed into law by Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, are all part of a nationwide effort by the GOP to limit voting access thanks to the widespread belief among the party’s rank-and-file that former President Donald Trump lost his reelection campaign due to so-called voter fraud, although zero evidence of such widespread fraud has come to light.
“What we’re seeing right now is voter suppression happening in real time,” Hidalgo said, “A party that has bought into a conspiracy theory, the Big Lie, is now trying to change our laws to make it harder for all of us to vote.”
Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/local-democrats-lash-out-against-gop-push-to-restrict-voting-11552320