After many months of delays and hurdles, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has officially signed a new voting law that will enhance voting security across the state in all future elections. Texas will join states like Florida that have enhanced voter security since the last presidential election in 2020.
The new legislation will prevent voting locations from offering drive-thru voting within the state of Texas. This comes less than a year after claims of ‘discrepancies’ came from the 45th President and his campaign after an election loss in November 2020.
Democrats have tried to combat the new Texas voting law by abruptly leaving for Washington D.C. Many of the representatives that traveled to the capital ended up testing positive for COVID-19 and were eventually forced to isolate before returning back to Texas.
Governor Abbott was forced to call consecutive special congressional sessions to pass the voting law due to the efforts from the members of the Texas Democratic Party.
The new voting law specifically states that a maximum of 16 hours per day can be designated for voting. Drive-thru voting is also prohibited according to the legislation. Voting hours will start at 6 AM and will be forced to close no later than 10 PM.
Democratic lawyers are already filing challenges to the new voter law because they believe the enhanced voter security provisions are preventing minority communities in Texas from having an opportunity to vote. It’s unlikely that the challenges will succeed but it’s certainly possible that an announcement relating to these legal challenges will emerge in the near future.
Nearly a dozen states have moved to enact new laws that enhance voter security after the 2020 election. Texas became one of those states as Abbott signed the legislation into law early this week. It will certainly be interesting to see which other states may follow Texas’ lead before the midterm elections start in 2022.
