tonight's mood: 
have learned so much about Texas legislative/parliamentary procedure tonight...much to ponder
update: the Texas state senate is currently discussing a resolution to explain changes to SB7 that weren’t in any previous versions of the bill
One of those changes: a new requirement for voters to provide an ID number or last 4 digits of their SSN when requesting or returning an absentee ballot
re: the current provision being discussed: federal law (specifically Section 8 of the NVRA) creates an inherent conflict between banning having more registered voters than eligible ppl and banning election offices from systematic list maintenance 90 days out from an election
@SenatorEckhardt just raised this exact issue about the stricter rules for voter list maintenance in SB7 and the onerous requirements they pose to election officials to @SenBryanHughes — she also raised questions about provisions in the CCR re: overturning elections
the concerns @whitmire_john just raised about people being bamboozled by new requirements for voting by mail links with my analysis from earlier this month about how giving ppl more hurdles to jump through could hurt low-propensity voters businessinsider.com/voting-restric…
currently happening: a discussion on how fast the voter rolls would have to grow in order to trigger the provision at the beginning of SB7 that would penalize election officials for failure to maintain voter rolls to ensure there aren’t more voters than eligible citizens
.@SenBryanHughes is In dialogue with @TeamBettencourt, who has expertise in elections, at this time. Both defending provisions of SB6 as “common sense”
.@CarolforTexas to @SenBryanHughes: “let’s talk about the elephant in the room, and I don’t mean the mascot of your party: it’s Harris County”
Sen. Alvarado is pressing Sen. Hughes on what he knows about the heavily POC makeup of the electorate in Harris county and esp the voters who used drive-thru voting in 2020
Sen. Hughes argued that Harris county officials being afraid drive-thru votes wouldn’t count **because of litigation**, and vague reports of people “looking over shoulders” in cars during is a reason why it should be eliminated. He says “drive-thru for fast food is one thing...”
Sen. Alvarado is working to get lots of stats on the record in this debate and exchange with Sen. Hughes about how the bans on drive thru and 24-hour voting would impact Black and Latino voters: “How many times has Texas been in court over the voting rights act?”
.@CarolforTexas: “I think your bill goes after Harris county and the mechanisms used by communities of colors...and I think once again Texas is going to find itself in the courts and being challenged, because every election bill this body passes ends up being challenged.”
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