Texas Senate gives first clearance to make illegal voting a felony again

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The Texas Senate on Monday gave an initial 19-to-12 approval to a bill that would raise the penalty for illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a felony, a priority for Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick and other conservative lawmakers who have been working to change the state’s voting laws after the 2020 election. year, despite lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud in Texas.

If Senate Bill 2 becomes law, a person found guilty of a crime could face up to 20 years in prison and more than $10,000 in fines.

Monday’s debate between Democratic lawmakers and Senator Brian Hughes, R-Mineola, the bill’s sponsor, focused heavily on what constitutes an illegal vote. Legislators disagreed as to whether a person who erroneously voted illegally could be prosecuted under the bill. Democrats pointed to examples such as a person who knows they have been convicted of a felony but doesn’t realize it disqualifies them from voting, or a person who knows they’re not a U.S. citizen but doesn’t know what it is. deprives him of the right to vote.

Some Democratic lawmakers told Hughes they were concerned such voters would be held accountable for “innocent mistakes.”

“I’m just asking you to think about the unintended consequences of your proposal,” Senator John Whitmire of Houston told Hughes. “We are all against election fraud. But to give it the seriousness that you are today really scares some of us who have worked with voters who just won’t be as informed as you might assume, like someone coming out of parole like 17 -year-old – an old high school student.

[Two years after Texas’ voting rights showdown gripped the nation, lawmakers again push dozens of elections bills]

Others asked Hughes if he thought the increase in the fine would deter voters from voting. What voters are you talking about? Hughes said. “The goal is to deter illegal voting. Let me be very clear: yes, I want to prevent illegal voting, regardless of who they are for or against.

Hughes repeatedly defended the bill and said that individuals would only be prosecuted if they “knowingly and intentionally” voted illegally. Republican Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston, reiterated that the prosecutor will take all circumstances into account.

Hughes also repeated the refrain that the bill was not “a sweeping change to the law”.

“We are restoring the law as it was,” he said. “It makes sense. It’s consistent with other criminal laws.”

But Hughes’ bill changes the existing legal language to what is known as the “requirement of intent.” The law, passed under a sweeping overhaul of the state’s electoral laws passed two years ago, states that a person commits a crime if they “knowingly or intentionally” vote or attempt to vote in an election in which the person “knows they are not eligible.” to vote. The Hughes legislation would change this wording to include anyone who votes or attempts to vote in an election in which “the person is aware of certain circumstances that disqualify him from voting.”

The 2021 legislation also lowered the punishment for illegal voting from a felony in the second degree to a misdemeanor class A after it had been a felony for almost 50 years. The change was a small part of the omnibus voting bill and largely went unnoticed until Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law.

In 2021, Patrick said the “last minute” change should be fixed. This year, he added SB2 to his list of legislative priorities. The bill is one of several that have been submitted by Republican lawmakers in both houses with similar intent.

Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, who filed a bill similar to SB 2 in the House of Representatives, said in January that higher penalties are needed to “ensure we have a safe and secure election.”

Voting rights advocates say they were pleased to see lawmakers opposed to the bill raise questions about how the new bill could open the door to potential “voter fraud.”

Katya Eresman, head of the voting rights program at Common Cause Texas, said everyone knows a voter, friend or neighbor who could be affected by the upcoming law.

Eresman said that in some cases, a person may try to vote absenteeally by mail because they are 65 or disabled. If they cannot tell if their ballot was received and are not sure if their vote was taken into account, they can try to vote in person and cast an early vote.

“This voter could be held criminally liable under SB 2″ because he knew he had already voted by mail, Eresman said. “Especially if their mail-in ballots were counted on the same day. That’s one of the issues we’re potentially seeing in SB 2.”

Hughes in the room on Monday said that an ineligible voter trying to cast a pre-ballot, who can often be caught before the count, would not be enough to prosecute voters.

“But in the case of Crystal Mason, we saw that this is clearly not the case,” Eresman told Votebeat and the Texas Tribune. “And so really any Texan could be at risk and afraid of being punished if it becomes law.”

[Crystal Mason’s contentious illegal voting conviction must be reconsidered, criminal appeals court says]

The case of Crystal Mason, a Tarrant County woman, received state and national attention and became the subject of political debate after she was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for illegal voting. supervised exemption from federal conviction and was unaware she was ineligible to vote.

When Mason was charged, the crime was a felony in the second degree. Because she did not know that she did not have the right to vote, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filed an application to the lower court of appeals for a review. The outcome of her case is yet to be announced.

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