Some of the more than 50 absent Texas House Democrats have begun returning home from Washington, D.C. But between those staying behind and those planning not to show up at the Capitol, there appears little chance the House will have enough members Saturday to conduct business.
Alexa Ura
Alexa Ura reported for The Texas Tribune from 2013 to 2023. She covered the complex dynamics of race, ethnicity, wealth, poverty and power and how they are shaping the future of Texas and Texans, in the long and short term. Alexa started at the Tribune as a reporting intern before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and joining the staff full time. Originally from Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, she is a native Spanish speaker and is based in Austin.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Quorum-busting Texas House Democrats still plotting next move ahead of second special session
Following Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that a second round of legislative overtime would begin Saturday, the Democrats who relocated to Washington, D.C., to prevent the House from having enough members to conduct business indicated they are still discussing what they’ll do now.
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Politics
Invoking the spirit of Selma, Texas activists begin 27-mile march demanding federal action on voting rights
The marchers will travel south from Georgetown to Austin over four days, hoping to build pressure on Congress to act on federal legislation to boost or safeguard access to voting. They will end with a Saturday morning rally at the Capitol.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers to testify as U.S. House oversight committee plans hearing on Texas voting bill
Three of the Democratic legislators who went to Washington, D.C., to deny the Texas House a quorum have been invited to detail their concerns at a specially called hearing on the contentious legislation that includes new restrictions on voting.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Behind the partisan drama lies a profoundly serious struggle over who gets shut out under Texas voting laws
Whose voices will be heard in Texas halls of power? That question beats at the heart of the Democratic quorum break that has brought the Legislature to a halt and focused national attention on GOP efforts to make voting in Texas harder.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas Democrats land in Washington, D.C., and promise to stay out of Texas until after special legislative session ends Aug. 6
Texas Democrats said they are urging Congress again to pass federal voting laws, acknowledging that Gov. Greg Abbott would continue to call special sessions until the GOP elections bill was passed.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas House Democrats flee the state in move that could block voting restrictions bill, bring Legislature to a halt
A majority of Democrats in the Texas House left for Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon in a bid to again deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new voting restrictions with 26 days left in a special legislative session called largely for that purpose.
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Texas Legislature 2021
GOP voting bills advance in Texas House and Senate after overnight committee hearings
Authors of the legislation are moving to ban drive-thru and 24-hour voting options, enhance access for partisan poll watchers and prohibit local election officials from proactively distributing applications to request mail-in ballots. Both bills also include language to further restrict the state’s voting-by-mail rules, including new ID requirements for absentee voters.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texans testifying on GOP voting bill faced a 17 hour-wait to be heard by lawmakers in the dead of night
Members of the public arrived at the Texas Capitol as early as 6 a.m. to sign up to speak before lawmakers considering the legislation. In the House, public testimony wouldn’t begin until early the next morning.
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Politics
What’s in the new voting restriction legislation introduced in the Texas House and Senate
Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3 will be the starting points for the Legislature’s efforts to tighten Texas voting laws. Here’s what the bills would do.