Joe.My.God. LGBT News
CNN reports:
Texas Republicans have approved a pair of bills targeting the elections process in Harris County, the state’s largest and home to Houston, with voting rights activists accusing the GOP of plotting a “power grab” in an increasingly Democratic county. The measures, which passed the Republican-controlled state House and Senate, now head to the desk of GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
On Sunday, lawmakers passed legislation known as SB 1933 that would authorize the office of the Texas secretary of state – an Abbott appointee – to “order administrative oversight” of a county elections office if, for instance, a complaint is filed or there’s cause to believe there’s a recurring pattern of problems involving election administration or voter registration.
The measure would affect any county that has a population of more than 4 million people – Harris County is the only county in the state that meets that criterion.
The New York Times reports:
Harris County is a bright blue spot in a red state. Donald Trump won Texas’ presidential election in 2020 by six points, even as he lost the county by 13 points to Joe Biden.
The county has been at the center of battles over voting for years. Amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the county implemented overnight voting to accommodate shift workers and set up a drive-through voting program.
Abbott and Republican lawmakers banned those practices a year later with sweeping legislation that also allowed partisan poll watchers to get closer to election officials and banned officials from sending unsolicited applications for absentee ballots.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Paul Bettencourt [photo], last appeared here in December 2022 when he proposed creating an elections police force.
This is brazen gaslighting! This is a major victory for Texas GOP authoritarianism and and big defeat for democracy. You are targeting Harris County to eliminate its independent elections administrator, so you can suppress votes & overturn elections results you don’t like. https://t.co/UCL5KAn2e0
— Sol (@forwardarc) May 23, 2023
The second bill, S.B.1933, would give Greg Abbott’s handpicked Sec. of State the power to overturn elections in Harris County.
The SOS doesn’t even need to prove election malfunctions (like running out of paper ballots)—they just need to have “good cause.” pic.twitter.com/kiTIh8zdwY
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) May 19, 2023
The Texas Legislature is sending two election bills to Gov. Abbott (R) for signing: #SB1933, which would allow the state to take over election administration in Harris County, and #SB1070, which would allow Texas to leave the data voter organization ERIC. https://t.co/efLSpv5bmN
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) May 29, 2023
#SB1933 will allow the secretary of state to take over election administration if they have “good cause to believe” that recurrent election problems exist in a county. The bill would only apply to counties with over 4 million residents. Only Harris County fits that criterion.
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) May 29, 2023