A Disdain For Democracy

This piece has been updated to reflect Updates ON SB 1070, SB 1750 and SB 1933.

By Valerie Street

By this point, a lot has been shared and reported on the subversive, authoritarian politics of the 88th Legislative Session in Texas. As we barrel through the final days of the regular session, many advocates have already begun taking stock of just how harmful and violent this legislative cycle was for Texans. We have lamented the opportunities missed (much needed boosts to voter education investment, online voter registration, smart gun legislation to more effectively address the horrors of gun violence in recent times, public education investment, and on and on) as well as the complete disregard on display at various points throughout this session for public participation or a meaningful democratic process. 

More than once, we witnessed lawmakers abruptly cutoff the opportunity for public testimony at hearings where Texans waited hours to testify on bills that would harm their communities. Back in March, the Texas House Public Health Committee cut off testimony on anti-trans SB 14 at midnight despite the thousands of Texans who had been present at the Capitol to oppose it. In April, advocates and organizers with Texas Civil Rights Project were not able to testify against anti-immigrant bill, HB 20, despite waiting over twelve hours in the House State Affairs Committee hearing for the opportunity. 

At other times, lawmakers have scheduled hearings with nowhere near enough notice for the public to have an opportunity to show up in the first place. Most recently, this happened when the Texas Senate Education Committee scheduled an emergency hearing on May 22nd to hear a substituted version of HB 100 that included a last minute added voucher proposal to the House school finance bill. This of course follows a hearing that the Texas House Public Education Committee similarly scheduled with “short notice” for SB 8 (a voucher bill) in which no opportunity for public testimony was given. 

Some of the most harmful and controversial bills of the 88th have been laid out in hearings that have taken place long after the sun has gone down. And while it is true that lawmakers have an alarming amount of latitude to play with when it comes to these procedures and the order of bills heard, this maneuvering often serves a tactical purpose to diminish or even silence public dissent on damning bills. For as many Texans that do show up to the Capitol, sometimes daily, during the days of any given legislative session, there are many more Texans for whom that simply is not a possibility. 

At the heart of so many multi-tiered attacks on our communities is the pernicious whittling away through the legislative process of not just Texas voter rights but the very power of our votes and voices. Without which, it becomes markedly easier for lawmakers to sweep in and implement a wide range of harmful policy changes that target areas like local government, our courts, our schools and students as well as Texas communities of color and immigrant communities. 

Some of the most damaging bills, now poised to become law, to come out of this session as it relates to Texas voters and our elections hit the House floor Monday night where they were swiftly passed. Among them: SB 1070, SB 1933 and SB 1750 – bills that target local control of elections and subvert the will of Texas voters. 

SB 1070 (which has since passed and may soon be headed to the Governor’s desk) paves the way for Texas to exit the ERIC system (Electronic Registration Information Center) for no legitimate purpose and even despite the Texas Secretary of State's office stating that ERIC is a necessary tool for making sure voters are not registering or voting in more than one state at the same time. For as much as supporters of this bill want to talk about the security of our voter lists and elections, SB 1070 could drastically undercut the efforts to maintain that security. 

SB 1750 (now passed and headed to the Governor’s desk) will remove the Elections Administrator for Harris County, making this a bill that targets one of the state’s most diverse counties and the third largest county in the nation. OVT's Board Director Carl Blair, a Harris County voter, submitted testimony against this bill in which he reminded lawmakers that "in the 2022 midterms, there were media reports of widespread outages of paper ballots at polling places all across Harris County. But those early media reports were later found to be wildly overblown.“ He also stated that "Lawmakers have launched a wide ranging attack on Harris County’s very ability to run its own elections."

SB 1933 (also now passed and may soon be headed to the Governor’s desk) has morphed into yet another bill targeting Harris County specifically. It permits the Secretary of State to wield administrative oversight of a county office administering elections under certain conditions where the Secretary of State deems there is "good cause.” It also gives the Secretary of State the ability to approve any policies or procedures implemented in the county and to authorize in-person observation. Ultimately it gives the Secretary of State (an appointed, not elected, official) the power to appoint a conservator to oversee elections in a county if at any point the Secretary of State deems it necessary. Combined, these last two newly passed bills represent a freshly dangerous, alarming attack on Texas voters that should concern Texans across the state. 

With these moves, Texas lawmakers are demonstrating that not only are they uninterested in making Texas anything other than one of the most restrictive states to vote in, but that they are increasingly uninterested in democracy itself at every step of the way. Now more than ever, our work in the years to come will require the loud voices of Texas voters coming together to advocate for our rights and to promote accurate voter information to make sure that those in power hell bent on silencing us never succeed.