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Alexa Ura Profile picture
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31 May, 4 tweets, 3 min read
“Members take your key and leave the chamber discretely. Do not go the gallery. Leave the building.” @ChrisGTurner texted Democrats as they left the House chamber, breaking quorum and preventing a vote on Senate Bill 7 before a midnight deadline: texastribune.org/2021/05/30/tex…
House Democrats who just broke quorum to prevent vote on GOP’s priority voting bill, Senate Bill 7, are arriving at a Baptist church two miles from the Capitol.

Several “no comments” from lawmakers as they walk into a side entrance of a brick building #txlege
“Welcome to House District 46,” @SherylCole1 says as Democrats come out to address their quorum break to block GOP voting bill. #txlege
.@NicoleCollier95 defends the walkout saying they expected Republicans to use a procedural motion to force a vote on the bill before its midnight deadline. Says they looked to procedure as well in breaking quorum.

“We used the rule book,” she said. #txlege

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More from @alexazura

Alexa Ura Profile picture
29 May
The Senate is now trying to bring up Senate Bill 7 on the floor w/ Democrats raising parliamentary inquiries and questions about timing on when the report was distributed to members for review #txlege
.@SenBryanHughes is trying to suspend the rules to allow the Senate to vote on the conference committee report earlier than the required 24 hours since it was filed. He wants to bring up the report after 10 p.m. #txlege
Hughes tells @whitmire_john he's giving senators "more time" by alerting them about 10 p.m. debate on SB 7.

"That's a nice spin," Whitmire says. The rule is for the report to be out for 24 hours so senators have time to review it. Hughes is trying to shorten that window. #txlege
Read 5 tweets
Alexa Ura Profile picture
29 May
SB 7 conference committee report has finally been published (w/o Democrats' signatures - no surprise there): lrl.texas.gov/scanned/87ccrs…

Here's our breakdown from earlier when it finally emerged from closed door negotiations: texastribune.org/2021/05/29/tex… #txlege
Final version of SB 7 will:

-ban extended early voting hours
-ban drive-thru voting
-further clamp down on voting-by-mail rules

Final version leaves out polling place regulation in big counties that would've led to a decrease in voting sites in Dem areas/for voters of color.
It includes a new voting change to vote-by-mail that wasn't in either chamber's version of the bill.

DL or Social Security number will be required to request a mail-in ballot. Will also be required on the return envelopes containing ballots for votes to be counted.
Read 6 tweets
Alexa Ura Profile picture
23 May
Election Day polling places in largely Democratic parts of major Texas counties would decrease dramatically under a version of the GOP’s priority voting bill — voting options would be curtailed most in areas with higher shares of voters of color: texastribune.org/2021/05/23/tex… #txlege
Under Senate’s version of Senate Bill 7:

Only Democratic areas in Harris County would lose polling places.

In Tarrant, the greatest losses would be in areas where the large majority of eligible voters are Hispanic & Black: Map showing the effect of Senate Bill 7 in Tarrant County, i
SB7 would target just the state’s largest counties that use countywide voting on Election Day. More than 60 other Texas counties that offer it — many rural & under Republican control — would remain under the state’s more relaxed rules for polling place distribution. #txlege
Read 5 tweets
Alexa Ura Profile picture
25 Mar
House Elections Committee's hearing just broke down amid @BriscoeCain's refusal to allow @NicoleCollier95 (who is not on the committee) to ask questions on House Bill 6, even when @jessicafortexas was presiding over the committee & trying to recognize Collier for Qs #txlege
Collier is chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. There are no Black members on the elections committee. The caucus and @MALCTx previously asked to be able to participate in the hearing — something I've seen happen in the elections committee in previous #txlege sessions
Because HB6 is Cain's bill, González was presiding as vice chair. But when she tried to recognize Collier, Cain attempted to both recess for lunch and move to witnesses w/o letting Collier ask questions. The committee ended up recessing abruptly.
Read 4 tweets
Alexa Ura Profile picture
20 Feb 19
Takeaways from day 2 of hearing in TX voter citizenship review lawsuit: SOS elections director Keith Ingram said “miscommunication” was to blame for erroneously flagging 20K+ voters. They ignored citizenship flag in data because they wrongly thought it was self-reported. #txlege
Ingram also said 43 people on original list asked to be removed from voter rolls because they were not citizens. Unclear how many of them indicated they weren't citizens when they submitted voter reg applications & were mistakenly added as some counties have admitted happens.
Like asst AG yesterday, Ingram also said counties were to blame for foul-up. “Some counties rushed and sent notices of examination that they probably shouldn’t have sent,” Ingram said, claiming locals didn’t follow training. From yesterday’s hearing: texastribune.org/2019/02/19/sta…
Read 5 tweets
Alexa Ura Profile picture
19 Feb 19
Greetings from the federal courthouse in San Antonio where Judge Fred Biery will consider a request for a preliminary injunction to block Texas’ voter citizenship review & the state’s motion to dismiss the legal challenge #txlege
Biery repeatedly asking if SOS considered naturalized citizens could be on list of flagged voters.

AG lawyer: Focus was on noncitizens, not naturalized

Biery: If somebody was born here, they couldn't be a noncitizen so theres a different standard for native born & naturalized?
AG lawyer hammering point that county voter registrar has discretion to investigate flagged voters/take no action if no reason to doubt eligibility. But local officials have told me they can’t just ignore list. One said he’s gotten calls from public insisting on investigations.
Read 7 tweets

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