Thread by @TheArcofTexas

🧵Here's what to know about the bills & how they negatively affect Texas voters w/disabilities:

#SB1 would give poll watchers more authority to watch voters. Poll watchers may misconstrue cues/prompts voters w/disabilities need & think they are doing something illegal #txlege

#SB1 would ban drop boxes for mail-in ballots & would
require receipt “by an election official at the time of delivery.” The official must record the voter’s name, signature, and type of voter ID provided. #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would required applications for a mail-in ballot to be signed "using ink on paper" & prohibit a "photocopied signature." There is no provision for accommodations for voters with disabilities #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would require voters to provide ID #s on their vote-by-mail applications + return carrier envelopes, and if the number they provide doesn't match the number that appears on their voter registration forms, their application/ballot is rejected. #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would allow only a person acting as an assister to a voter can be inside the car when someone is curbside voting

Anyone giving a ride to 3 people at same time must fill out additional form stating their name, address & if assisting or just driving #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would require assisters to fill out a new form w/ their name, address, relationship to the voter, & whether they are receiving or accepting “any form of compensation or other benefit from a candidate, campaign, or political committee.” #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would make assisters take an oath “under penalty of perjury," making assisters either less comfortable helping voters w/disabilities or making mistakes a criminal offense #txlege #CripTheVote

#SB1 would require an assister to state under oath that the voter “represented to me they are eligible to receive assistance because of a physical disability that renders the voter unable to write or see or an inability to read the language in which the ballot is written.”

#SB1 would limit assisters help & they cannot “answering the voter’s questions … stating propositions on the ballot, and ... naming candidates and, if listed, their political parties.” Many voters w/disabilities need these accommodations to participate in democracy #txlege

#HB3 has many of the same harmful provisions for voters w/disabilities. It also would boosts the penalty of the providing assistance offenses to a state jail felony in all cases v. a misdemeanor #txlege #CripTheVote

#HB3 would also creates a new perjury criminal offense for false assistant oaths. This is essentially #VoterSuppression, since fewer assisters may be willing to help. Assisters can be the difference b/t a disabled Texan voting or missing out on their #CivilRights to #CripTheVote