A congressional oversight panel is hearing from Texas House Democrats in DC about GOP voting legislation in the state this AM. Also testifying is one of the House Republicans, @travisfortexas. Watch live here: #txlege
Looks like some of the Republicans in the Texas congressional delegation not on the panel are sitting in on the hearing on Texas voting legislation. #txlege
Chairman @RepRaskin opens the hearing referencing the provisions that suppress the vote in different versions of TX voting legislation, incl. the one limiting Sunday voting in #SB7. He also talks about Toth's bill to audit the 2020 election in the biggest 13 counties. #txlege
Raskin talks about parts of #HB3 and #SB1 in the special session. There's the provision that prohibits election judges removing a poll watcher until they have been giving a warning once after being seen violating Elections or Penal code. #txlege
Vice Chair @PeteSessions criticizes Texas House Dems for walking out of #txlege for "losing" on a bill. "The rights of all Texans are being withheld", he says, because of it. Now he's going through the special session agenda that can't get done because of the walkout. #txlege
Sessions cites how Texas is a pioneer in early voting. Parrots the talking point that TX has more early voting days than Delaware. Says TX has curbside voting for disabled folks. He also talks about the cure provisions in #HB3 & #SB1. And says bills can still be amended. #txlege
First witness is Dean of the Texas House, @Senfronia4Texas. She opens w/struggles of African Americans in TX to access the ballot box. She defends TX Dems being in DC which is the "seat of democracy". She hopes her children & grandchildren don't have to keep fighting. #txlege
Thompson says the first time she voted, she had to pay a poll tax, which btw ended in 1966 in Texas.
She also talks about her personal experience w/how partisan poll watchers can and do intimidate minorities at the polls. #txlege
She also talks about her personal experience w/how partisan poll watchers can and do intimidate minorities at the polls. #txlege
Now up is @NicoleCollier95 who is responding to some of the GOP Congressional members' claims in the opening. She talks about several amendments by Dems were offered in committee on #HB3 but were all voted down along party lines. #txlege
Collier cites the vote by mail matching provision in #HB3 / #SB1 that could lead to votes being qualified. See this @TexasMonthly piece: texasmonthly.com/news-politics/… #txlege
Now up is @travisfortexas. He says there is no assault on voting rights in Texas but there is a fraud problem. Tells Dems to "come home." Says #HB3 has been negotiated in good faith. Offers that it can better through debate on the floor. #txlege
Clardy claims the professional association of TX election administrators testified favorably during committee, that if certain provisions are added, they would change their position from neutral to for the bill. Recall: no amendments were made in cmte. #txlege
Clardy wants to dispel claims about #HB3. He says it doesn't limit early voting hours, that it actually increases it. Says poll watchers cannot intimidate voters & this bill doesn't allow that. Says mail in ballots are not thrown out automatically b/c of cure provisions. #txlege
Clardy also says #HB3 doesn't impose unreasonable burdens on voting assistance.
He ends testimony by saying there should be zero tolerance to voter fraud. #txlege
He ends testimony by saying there should be zero tolerance to voter fraud. #txlege
Nina Perales of @MALDEF is testifying now. Article 6 of #HB3 requires voters assistors to swear an oath to secure eligibility of the voter for assistance and that they didn't encourage them to use assistance. This violates federal law. #txlege
Perales adds that there is paperwork req. in #HB3 for voting assistors that will slow down the voting process and will affect Latino and Asian Americans more. #txlege
Perales: #HB3 empowers partisan poll watchers to freely roam the polling place. It criminalizes poll workers with respect to removing disruptive poll watchers. #txlege
Perales adds #SB1 had the same illegal voter purge in 2019 but it was in the bill until @MALDEF testified in committee and it was changed to align with the court settlement. #txlege texastribune.org/2019/04/26/tex…
The YouTube stream was lagging for us during @DiegoBernalTX's testimony. #txlege
https://twitter.com/edwonkkimmy/status/1420769599365296129
Sessions clarifies that ballots in Texas are in the language they need them to have. Bernal agrees. Perales of @MALDEF said bilingual ballots are not enough and that federal law forces Texas to expand the scope of assistance than what is allowed in state law. #txlege
Rep. @DWStweets asked @Senfronia4Texas if there were any reports about irregularities regarding expanding voting options in Harris County, like 24 hour voting and drive-thru voting. Thompson says she's not aware. #txlege
.@NicoleCollier95 said she's not aware of any prosecutions of voter fraud related 24 hour voting and drive-thru voting in Harris County in 2020 elections. #txlege
Wasserman Schultz asks if the provision preventing election officials from sending unsolicited voting by mail applications makes it harder to vote.
Perales of @MALDEF says yes because it's already hard as an elderly person to navigate making a request for a mail ballot. #txlege
Perales of @MALDEF says yes because it's already hard as an elderly person to navigate making a request for a mail ballot. #txlege
.@RepNancyMace asks @Senfronia4Texas a line of questions of what requires an ID in Texas. Then she goes through registration & turnout rate among diff racial groups. Says 72% of Democrats support voter ID, as do majority of Hispanics & Black Americans. #txlege
Rep. Mace (R-SC) claims that it's harder for women to vote in Texas than for Hispanic and African Americans because of a cited rankings of how hard it is to vote where Texas ranked lower for women than for African Americans. #txlege
Perales says voting is a fundamental right. It should not be equated to buying liquor as asked by Mace. Texas has a voting ID law that made it surgically harder to vote that courts found discriminatory. B/c of that ruling, TX broadened the opportunity for voters to vote. #txlege
Frmr State Sen. @FallonForTexas is talking after getting time yielded from Rep. Scott Franklin. He uses the time to rebut the claim by Chair Raskin that Texas is one of the hardest states to vote by saying turnout increase b/w '16 & '20 in TX was in the top 10 in the US. #txlege
.@ByronDonalds asks if there is anything in #HB3 that would stop any voter from filing a complaint if a poll watcher. @Senfronia4Texas says the effect is still intimidation even if they have a legal right to file a complaint. Says many won't file. #txlege
Donalds says Dems could offer technical corrections for the #HB3 voter ID absentee ballot provision that would lead to ballots being rejected even if a voter puts a correct ID number but it didn't match what they registered with. #txlege
.@AyannaPressley: do you think expanding criminal penalties in #HB3 will deter people to vote?
Perales: Yes. #txlege
Perales: Yes. #txlege
On another question from Pressley, Bernal said an "ink on paper" signature provision for mail ballot apps would impede voters w/disabilities who use stamps & there's no cure provision in the bill for that. #HB3 #txlege
.@chiproytx gets the 3 Texas House Democrat witnesses on record in favor of #HR1, which he claims federalize state elections. #txlege
Pat Fallon says he got a text from TX House Republicans that says they will offer an amendment to fix the issue of mismatch of SSN/DL number on absentee ballots in the bill. This is the provision at the center of the @TexasMonthly piece by @JessicaHuseman. #txlege
Committee is taking a 15 minute recess for the hearing. Just saw Fallon and Bernal discussing some of his questioning. #txlege
Hearing resumes. Another Republican Congressperson yields to Fallon.
Fallon says there were no complaints in Harris County of voter intimidation (not sure when). Says poll watcher intimidation is more urban legend than truth. #txlege
Fallon says there were no complaints in Harris County of voter intimidation (not sure when). Says poll watcher intimidation is more urban legend than truth. #txlege
Hearing is adjourned. Story to come. Thanks for following along. #txlege
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