The voter turnout in Texas is one of the worst. Here’s What 100+ New Election Bills Could Mean

DALLAS. Texas already has a reputation for being one of the hardest states to vote. Legislators are now looking at ways to make it even harder for some people to vote.

State legislators have introduced more than 100 new bills that either deal with elections in Texas or change the way voting is done.

“It’s likely that eventually there will be some bigger bill that will gobble up each of these smaller ideas, even if that means we’re just passing what’s already in the law,” said Jessica Hasman, editor-in-chief of VoteBeat. org.

Votebeat provides unbiased voting and election reports across the country. Husman explains the changing electoral scene in Texas in the latest edition of the Y’all-itics political podcast.

In 2021, Texas Republicans canceled pass-through voting and 24-hour polling stations after a higher-than-expected turnout in the November 2020 elections. Texas Democrats famously fled to Washington D.C. to disrupt the quorum and draw attention to Republican maneuvering, but a rare legislative tactic only delayed the inevitable.

Two years later, Texas legislators had a number of new proposals:

Senate Bill 1338 by Bob Hall, R-Rockwall, prohibits people over 65 from voting by mail unless they have a disability.

Senate Bill 399, also introduced by Senator Hall, would remove Texas from the Electronic Registration Clearinghouse. This organization helps Texas and 30 other voters update their voter rolls by removing dead voters and duplicating registrations.

House Bill 2390, introduced by State Representative Carrie Isaac, R-New Braunfels, proposes to ban polling places on college campuses.

Brian Hughes Senate Bill 2, R-Mineola, would change the penalty for illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony. It has a low bill number, indicating that it is a legislative priority and is likely to be passed.

“There are not thousands of people illegally registered to vote who vote and pass fake ballots,” Husman explained. “This is a no-hassle solution. So, we must consider that the law itself must be a deterrent. So we’re going to pass all these laws that make voting really dangerous and you could face a felony for making a mistake. You just won’t go.”

The biggest problem Texas is facing is low voter turnout.

In the last presidential election, one of the most popular in decades, 60 percent of registered voters voted, and Texas ranked 41st out of 50 in turnout.

Oklahoma was last with a 55% turnout and Minnesota came in first with a 79.8% turnout, according to the US Election Draft.

Texas and Georgia have similar restrictive electoral laws, Husman said, but voter turnout is higher in Georgia than in Texas.

“This is because the people of Georgia have the right to vote – and respect for it – is in their DNA,” she explained. “The population of Texas makes it a little more difficult because we are talking about people who have just moved here, people who are new citizens of the United States, whose parents, by definition, could not vote. And so they must create it [voting] educate yourself and instill it in your families. It’s hard to create culturally.”

State leaders continue to come up with ideas for our elections, but none of them seem to be focused on changing the voting culture in Texas.

Every Sunday there is a new episode of the Y’all-itics podcast. Download it wherever you get your podcasts and check it out library of past episodes.