Thread by @JuddLegum

1. Texas Republicans just released the text of its voter suppression bill, SB7

Votes will be held before midnight Sunday

The bill includes a NEW PROVISION that allows judges to OVERTURN AN ELECTION "WITHOUT DETERMINING HOW INDIVIDUAL VOTERS VOTED"

Follow along if interested

2. This section appears to validate Trump's claims that he won various states because a certain number of people voted "illegally" without any other details

Now people like Guiliani can take these absurd allegations to court and, with a sympathetic judge, OVERTURN AN ELECTION

3. Texas is poised to adopt this unprecedented and radical legal provision without ANY DEBATE IN EITHER CHAMBER

It was negotiated in a secret conference committee and released on a Saturday of a holiday weekend

And there is plenty of other bad stuff in this bill

4. The final bill text also:

Bans drive-thru voting and voting after 9PM (used disproportionately by voters of color in Harris County)

Bans voting on Sundays before 1PM (Souls to the polls)

Makes it more difficult for people with disabilities to vote by mail

5. I'll keep this thread updated with more information about Texas' SB7. It completely overhauls the state's voting system and was just made public a few hours ago.

For updates and more accountability journalism, sign up for my newsletter

popular.info/subscribe

6. REMINDER

These are the top corporate PAC donors to the cosponsors of this legislation (2018 to present):

@oncor (577K)
@ATT (575K)
@USAA (370K)
@CharterNewsroom (346K)
@WeAreFarmers (333K)
@BNSFRailway (239K)
@StateFarm (217K)
@UnionPacific (201K)

popular.info/p/texas-voter-…

7. More top corporate PAC donors to the cosponsors of Texas' voter suppression bill (2018 to present)

@AnthemInc (182K)
@ValeroEnergy (168K)
@tmau (166K)
@GM (154K)
@VistraCorp (153K)
@Exelon (151K)
@comcast (142K)
@CenterPoint (136K)

popular.info/p/texas-voter-…

8. More top corporate PAC donors to the cosponsors of Texas' voter suppression bill (2018 to present)

@CVSHealth (136K)
@UPS (125K)
@Centene (103K)
@Walmart (86K)
@Deloitte (80K)
@Phillips66Co (78K)
@BankofAmerica (43K)
@united (43K)
@DowNewsroom (40K)

popular.info/p/texas-voter-…

@CVSHealth @UPS @Centene @Walmart @Deloitte @Phillips66Co @BankofAmerica @united @DowNewsroom 9. This is another NEW PROVISION of the law straight from the right-wing fever swamp. It requires the Texas Secretary of State to ensure no county has more registered voters than people eligible to vote.

This is a favorite tactic of far-right orgs alleging voter fraud

10. Since the number of voters in a given county who are eligible is constantly changing, right-wing groups like to point to counties with "too many registered voters" as "proof" of voter fraud

Under the bill, this can be used to force counties to engage in voter purges etc

11. I think this provision about "too many registered voters" should be read along with the provision allowing judges to overturn the election

It opens the possibility to judges overturning the election based on flawed data on how many voters were eligible to vote

12. UPDATE: The @NAACP_LDF says SB7, Texas' voter suppression bill, violates the legislature's rules because it includes "out-of-bounds" provisions that were not included in either chambers bill.

13. NOTE

This bill needs to be voted on by the Texas Senate by Sunday at midnight.

Hard stop.

No exceptions.

The Texas Senate does not technically have a filibuster, but once recognized a Senator does not have to yield the floor

In 1977, a Senator spoke for 47 hours straight