Battle over US voting rights escalates as Texas Democrats flee state

The battle over voting rights in the United States has escalated as Democratic lawmakers in Texas fled the state, bringing their case to the halls of the US Capitol in Washington.

Texas – one of several Republican-controlled states seeking to introduce stricter rules around voting access – opened a special sitting of the legislature late last week. But Democrats in the lower house boycotted the session on Monday, depriving the body of the quorum needed to consider controversial new laws, including rules on voting. On Monday night, two private planes carrying more than 50 Democrats left Austin, Texas, for Washington DC. Under Texan law, the lawmakers could be arrested if they remained in the state.

Texas governor Greg Abbott threatened yesterday to arrest the Democrats who left the state when they return, vowing to keep scheduling special sessions until the laws are passed. "As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas capitol until they get their job done," Mr Abbott said.

With Republicans in control of both chambers in the statehouse, it is virtually certain that the new rules will eventually pass, but Democrats are hoping to win some compromises on the detail of the legislation.

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Among the measures being proposed by the country’s second-largest state is a restriction on drive-through voting sites, the introduction of new paperwork requirements, and empowering partisan figures to have oversight of the electoral process. Texas has also been at the forefront of draconian efforts to tighten up voting access in other ways. The state attorney general is in the process of prosecuting a 62-year-old man who mistakenly voted before the terms of his parole had expired. He is facing a possible prison sentence of 20 years.

‘Dangerous Bill’

As they gathered outside the US Capitol yesterday ahead of meetings with lawmakers, the Texan Democrats urged Congress to pass a new Voting Rights Act to protect Americans' right to vote through federal laws – a move that has been opposed by senate Republicans. Speaking on the Senate floor, majority leader Chuck Schumer praised the Texan Democrats for "doing all they can to block the dangerous partisan Bill".

“They are brave, they are bold, they are courageous, and history will show them on the side of right,” he said.

The dramatic action by the state lawmakers is not the first time Texan Democrats have sought to block legislation in this way. In 2003, during the George W Bush administration, members flew to New Mexico and Oklahoma to protest the redrawing of congressional districts.

In May, Democrats staged a walk-out from the chamber blocking a discussion of the voting measures from taking place, and prompting Republicans to convene a special session that began last week. Texas is also in the firing line for passing a new law allowing private citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy – the limit under state law.

The controversy over Texas's proposed legislation on voting rights this week comes as President Joe Biden delivered a landmark speech yesterday in Philadelphia.

In some of his strongest comments to date on President Donald Trump’s continued attempts to question the results of last year’s presidential election, Mr Biden said the 2020 election was the most scrutinised in American history.

Without mentioning his predecessor directly, he declared: “In America if you lose, you accept the results, you don’t call facts ‘fake’ and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you’re unhappy. That’s not statesmanship. That’s selfishness. That’s not democracy. It’s a denial of the right to vote ... The big lie is just that – a big lie.”

Test of democracy

Highlighting the range of restrictive voting laws introduced by more than a dozen Republican-controlled states in recent months, he said the US was experiencing the biggest test of its democracy since the civil war.

“There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote, and fair and free elections – an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, and an assault on who we are as Americans. But make no mistake, bullies and merchants of fear, pedlars of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country. It gives me no pleasure to say this. I never thought in my entire career I’d ever have to say it,” he said.

He also called on Republicans not to support the assault on voting rights that is taking place across the country.

“Stand up, for God’s sake, and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine the election and the right to vote. Have you no shame?”