There are a number of reasons why the voting bill that Texas Republicans tried to fast-track through the legislature over the weekend was called one of the most blatantly restrictive voting rights bills in America. Senate Bill 7 would have already been signed into law, if not for a dramatic late-night walkout by Democrats on Sunday which forced a delay on the final vote.
The attempt to crack down on Sunday “Souls to the Polls” programs was viewed as one of the most punitive measures in the legislation. Now, given a bit more time to think about it, and facing severe backlash, it appears Texas GOP lawmakers are rethinking that measure. They now claim the uproar over the restriction on Sunday early voting hours was a misunderstanding caused by a “typo.”
The bill contained several measures that would have made the voting experience much more difficult, including the elimination of after-hours voting, prohibition of ballot drop boxes and drive-through voting centers, barring elections officials from sending vote-by-mail applications to people who did not request one, and several others. It also would have made it much easier to overturn election results.
Perhaps the most controversial measure, and one many Democrats viewed as specifically targeted at black voters, was the restriction on Sunday early voting hours, to between 1-9pm. That would have greatly impacted the “Souls to the Polls” initiative in which black voters go vote after leaving Sunday church. Even the Wall Street Journal, which dismissed much of the concerns about the bill’s restrictions on voting, called the crackdown on Sunday voting a “political mistake.”
Two key Republicans directly involved with legislation now say blame the mixup on a clerical error. Rep. Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, who helped negotiate the bill, told NPR that the 1pm start time for Sunday voting was a mistake, and that it should have been 11am. Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park later backed up Clardy’s claim and said lawmakers intended to fix the start time in a special session.
There is one glaring problem with that story. Not one Republican mentioned the supposed “typo” during debate over the final version of SB 7 this past weekend. And the author of the bill, Senator Bryan Hughes of Mineola, defended the proposed voting time when he was questioned about it by Democrats last Saturday night.
“Those election workers want to go to church, too,” Hughes said at the time. “And so that’s why it says 1pm [and] no later than 9pm. You can make Sunday service and go after that.”
When asked on Tuesday about Clardy blaming a typo for the 1pm start time in the bill, Hughes said the intention of the legislation was to extend Sunday voting hours, not restrict, and that lawmakers would clarify it in the special session.
Governor Greg Abbott, who has threatened to withhold funding to the state legislature because of the Democrats’ stalling tactic, has said he will call a special session to get the voting bill passed. No specific date has been given.
