Texas’ new voting law includes these 7 major changes

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By Eric Bradner, CNN

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in law Tuesday a bill that imposes a series of new voting restrictions in one of the country’s fastest growing and diversifying states.

Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 after Republican-led legislature approved it during the second extraordinary session that the governor of the second term of the GOP had called this year. Democrats had previous versions blocked of the measure by fleeing the state for weeks, preventing the House from having the necessary quorum to do business.

Marc Elias, a leading Democratic election advocate, has said Texas will be prosecuted over its new law as soon as Abbott signs it.

Here’s a look at what the new Texas law does:

Prohibits 24-hour voting

In 2020, Harris County, the home of Houston, opened eight locations for 24-hour early voting – an option that was popular with shiftworkers in the racially diverse county.

Counties will now be banned from offering a 24-hour vote by a provision that limits the window in which counties can propose the vote from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The law also extends the current requirement of at least 12 hours of early voting on weekdays in the second week, and is allowed to include counties with more than 55,000 residents, up from 100,000 currently.

Prohibits voting while driving

In another provision that targets Harris County, the law prohibits voting behind the wheel. In 2020, as local authorities searched for ways to conduct the elections safely in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, 127,000 people in the county voted in 10 drive-thru centers, including a parking lot at Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets in the NBA.

New postal voting identification mandates

Texans who vote by mail – those over the age of 65, out of county on polling day, or with a disability or illness that prevents them from voting in person are eligible – will now be required to provide either their driver’s license number , or the last two times four digits of his Social Security number: once on his postal ballot and once on the envelope in which he returns his ballot.

These numbers will then be compared against voters’ records to confirm that they are who they claim to be – a change from the current signature matching process. Those whose votes risk being rejected due to technical errors can make corrections online under the new law. If time is of the essence, counties can notify voters by phone or email that they can cancel their mail-in ballots and vote in person.

Prohibits officials from posting unsolicited postal voting requests

The bill would make it an offense for a public official to send someone a request for a postal vote that they did not request, or to pre-complete part of a request for a postal vote. that he sends to someone.

It also prohibits public officials from being able to “facilitate” the unsolicited distribution of mail ballots by third parties – meaning that local election officials cannot provide ballot request forms to voting groups. . Political parties can still send unsolicited postal ballot requests, but will have to pay for them, according to the law.

Harris County attempted in 2020 to send a request to each of its registered voters, but the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state’s electoral code did not allow unsolicited candidacies to be sent. And some other counties sent out a request to all registered voters who were 65 and over on polling day, the only age group that is automatically eligible to vote by mail in Texas.

Empower poll watchers

Supportive poll observers cannot be denied “free movement” at polling stations under the new law – except to be able to watch a voter vote at a polling station. They have “the right to sit or stand close enough to see and hear the activity” at the polling station.

Poll observers also have the right under law to monitor polling closing activities, “including the sealing and transfer of a memory card, flash drive, hard drive, a data storage device or other medium ”, and to monitor the transfer of election material to a regional tabulation center.

In a concession to Democrats, the bill requires training for election observers and allows those who break the law to be kicked out of polling stations without warning.

New requirements to help voters

In provisions that advocates say are barriers to voting, those who help people with disabilities – other than caregivers of those voters – will be required to complete a document showing their name, address and relationship to the person they are. they helped to vote. Assistants should also take an oath by pledging to respect certain limits on their attendance, promising only to help “read the ballot to the voter, have the voter read the ballot, mark the ballot. ‘voter or ask the voter to mark the ballot. “

Monthly checks of the electoral lists

The Texas Secretary of State’s office will be required to check each month to ensure that no one is on the voters lists of the state who declared they were not a citizen when obtaining or renewing their driver’s license or identity card.

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