As the Legislature’s special session dawns, political developments have raised the stakes for how far Republicans might go in enacting new voting restrictions, and how they might impact voters of color.
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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Politics
Texans with disabilities fear voting will get harder for them as special session on GOP restrictions nears
The extent to which Republicans’ proposed voting restrictions might affect voters of color has received much attention, but Texans with disabilities also face the prospect of new barriers to the ballot box.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
Few Texans believe voting fraud is common, UT/TT poll shows, undercutting GOP rationale for tightening voting rules
With no evidence of widespread voting fraud to cite, Republicans are shifting their argument to insist that new voting restrictions are needed to forestall even isolated instances of ineligible voters casting ballots.
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Politics
Vice President Kamala Harris says Texas is key example of why a new federal elections law is needed
After their walkout to derail a priority GOP voting bill, Harris met with Texas Democrats at the White House as lawmakers call on Congress to pass legislation to restore federal oversight of elections.
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Politics
Texas Democrats who blocked GOP voting bill make their pitch on Capitol Hill for federal legislation
After temporarily derailing a GOP priority voting bill, Texas Democrats looked to Washington this week to make the case for a federal legislation to overhaul elections and reinstate protections for voters of color.
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Texas Legislature 2021
For Democrats of color, walkout on Texas voting bill was rooted in the long fight for equal voting rights
All they could get was a temporary win. But the lawmakers said taking the extraordinary measure of breaking quorum in the Texas House was justified by the harm they felt their mostly Black and Hispanic constituents would face under the GOP’s voting bill.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas Democrats abandon House floor, blocking passage of voting bill before final deadline
Midnight was the deadline for the House to approve the legislation that would alter nearly the entire voting process, create new limitations to early voting hours, ratchet up voting-by-mail restrictions and curb local voting options.
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Texas Legislature 2021
After drastic changes made behind closed doors, and an overnight debate, Texas Senate approves voting bill
Senate Bill 7 includes provisions to limit early voting hours, curtail local voting options and further tighten voting by mail. The upper chamber suspended its own rules to approve it after debating it for hours overnight.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas lawmakers poised to pass sweeping voting bill to restrict voting hours and change election rules
House and Senate negotiators have reached a deal on competing versions of Senate Bill 7. Once both chambers sign off on the agreement, it will head to the governor’s desk before it becomes law.
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Texas Legislature 2021
President Joe Biden says Texas voting bill is “part of an assault on democracy”
Senate Bill 7, a Republican priority voting bill, would limit early voting hours, curtail local voting options and further clamp down on mail-in voting, among several other provisions.
