Last week, @DanPatrick challenged Texans to point out how #SB7 would suppress votes, saying: "All these folks out there protesting with their fists in the air that this is voter suppression, they're lying to you. Let them point it out in the bill.”
Well, here it is in the bill:
Well, here it is in the bill:
ONE: Section 3.04 imposes new criminal penalties on election workers who make a disruptive poll watcher leave a polling site (up to $4,000 and a year in jail). That gives partisan poll watchers more freedom to harass and intimidate voters statesman.com/story/opinion/…
How does that suppress votes? Minority voters in Texas have long faced violence and intimidation at the hands of poll watchers, dissuading many from casting a ballot. This goes all the way back to when the KKK would aggressively stake out polling sites washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/w… 
And the blatant harassment of minorities at polling sites is nowhere near “just a thing of the past.” This @tcrp report describes the hundreds of voter harassment incidents reported in 2020 alone: txcivilrights.org/wp-content/upl…
In fact, as legislators fast-track SB 7, the Harris County GOP is mobilizing an “Election Integrity Brigade” to “build an army of 10,000 people” to serve as poll watchers to stake out polling places in Houston’s historically Black and Latino neighborhoods lettexasvote.org/alarming-video…
TWO: Section 2.01 prohibits voting clerks from soliciting mail-in-ballots from voters, even if they're eligible for that form of voting. The language in that section is so broad that it limits the ability of election officials to even educate voters about how mail-in ballots work
How does that suppress votes? The right to vote is only meaningful if voters know how to exercise it. SB 7 poses particular obstacles for Americans with disabilities, who often opt to vote by mail given the physical challenges of voting in person spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio…
THREE: Section 3.15 prohibits early voting sites from staying open beyond the hours between 6am and 9pm. This change appears to take specific aim at the hugely successful 24-hour polling sites Harris County implemented in 2020 to expand voter access texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…
How does that suppress votes? SB 7 limits voting access for low-income shift workers who need to work multiple jobs well past 9pm to make ends meet. SB 7 says democracy doesn't apply to these individuals.
And that’s not the end of it—the list certainly goes on. But there’s still time to fight back. Use this database to identify your state representatives, and call their offices to express your concerns about SB 7: commoncause.org/find-your-repr…
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