🚨Happening now: #txlege Senate is debating #SB7, the omnibus anti-voting bill that would make voting much more difficult for millions of Texans. Watch with us: tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph…
Within a minute of speaking--THAT'S FALSE--SB7 does not create a VBM tracker. It requires SOS to develop an online VBM tracker if there is specific appropriation. Otherwise, it's discretionary by the SOS. An effort to say they created a VBM tracker without definitively doing it. 
Fact Check: Sen. Hughes saying that people receiving VBM apps from counties automatically would mislead people into thinking they can vote by mail when they can't- but the forms clearly explain who is eligible and that you should only apply to vote by mail if you are eligible.
While the Senators are on the subject of poll-watchers- Black voters and other voters of color are more likely to be victims of poll-watcher intimidation. So #SB7's expansion of their authority is deeply problematic. #txlege #TXDeservesBetter
Sen. Hughes said Texas should have reduced early voting hours because it would be "easier for political parties to find poll watchers". Why should Texas voters have to pay the price to make things easier for political parties? #TXDeservesBetter
Sen. Hughes is wrong: poll watchers are not the 'eyes of the public.' They are agents of political campaigns to whom #SB7 gives new powers to harass voters they don't like.
If political parties find it hard to find poll watchers, that's not a reason to restrict the right to vote.
If political parties find it hard to find poll watchers, that's not a reason to restrict the right to vote.
Sen Seliger defends #SB7 by claiming that it's not a Georgia-style voter suppression bill b/c it doesn't prohibit passing out food/water to voters. But like SB 7, it prohibits counties from sending VBM forms proactively to voters. businessinsider.com/georgia-new-el…
Sen. Hughes is dodging lots of questions about who's targeted by #SB7 after being told that Texans of color are the most likely to use drive-thru voting. Why ever could that be? 🤔 #TXDeservesBetter
Sen. @whitmire_john asking Sen. Hughes whether #SB7 is really about the national movement towards voter suppression that spawned in part from Trump's lies about the 2020 election.
(He won't say it, but yes, of course it's to do with that)
(He won't say it, but yes, of course it's to do with that)
Senator Whitmire brings up example to Senator Hughes around the problems with allowing partisan poll watchers to videotape voters. What if a voter is a victim of violence and does not want their location known?
Hughes says all voter registration info is public already anyway, but doesn't mention that victims of violence have the option of entering the Attorney General's confidentiality program specifically so that their perpetrators don't know where they live: sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws…
Hughes just claimed that new restrictions on rides to the polls are necessary because people are "overpowering" voters and driving them to the polls.
Think about how wild that is: he's saying there's a massive and undetected wave of kidnapping happening every election.
Think about how wild that is: he's saying there's a massive and undetected wave of kidnapping happening every election.
In case y'all wanted our opinion, referring to one of the only Black Senators in the #txlege as the "kingpin of voter fraud in Harris County" seems pretty damn racist to us.
Ironically, the Senate continues to debate #SB7 after the hour that SB 7 would force early voting to stop (9pm). 👀#txlege #TXDeservesBetter
Alright friends. The Senate is recessing for a bit before starting on amendments. Our team has an 8am hearing on #HB6, so our coverage for #SB7 will end so our staff is rested and ready. We'll let y'all know the results on the amendments in the morning.
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