Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives have decided to leave the state in an effort to try and prevent Republicans from passing new voting laws that enhance security and prevent future fraud in Texas elections. The Democrats that have decided to leave the state are hopeful that their plan will ultimately result in the voting laws not being passed in their current form.
Governor Abbott has already called a special session to try and pass the voting law, although Democrats have continued to delay and restrict the passing, and their decision to leave the state is their latest move to try and delay the law even further.
The problem with their plan is that Governor Abbott can continuously call special congressional sessions in an effort to have the law passed in the future. There are no limits to the Governor in this regard and Republicans have enough support to easily pass the laws. With Democrats leaving the state, they are hoping that a small hiccup in the rules will play into their favor, which ultimately requires two-thirds of the members to be present during the voting process.
Democrats fear that a new voter security law within the state of Texas will harm their chances to flip the state blue in the future. They lost the state to Donald Trump by about 6% in the 2020 Presidential Election and that margin is unlikely to grow smaller if Republicans are successful in their voter security agenda.
Governor Abbott of Texas discarded the Democrats’ moves and called on them to return to the job that they were elected to do. It’s unclear how long the Texas Democrats that serve in the state’s House of Representatives will remain absent, although there’s a good chance that Texas House Republicans will take some form of action if they do not return soon.