In Bexar and 100 other counties, voters can use any polling site in their county. Without offering evidence, the bill's sponsor claims that's a security problem. Texas VotingRights VoterSuppression txlege SanAntonio SATX SanAntonioTX Houston
of Edgewood, passed 17-12 along party lines. The bill — if approved by the state House — would eliminate countywide voting centers on Election Day and require residents to vote at an assigned precinct, typically in their neighborhood. Larger voting centers would be permitted through early voting. — including large metro counties like Harris and Dallas as well as rural ones — are approved by the secretary of state’s office to use countywide voting centers on Election Day.
Hall has framed the bill as necessary to address potential issues with vote counts, but Democrats who opposed the bill pressed him for any evidence that countywide polling had led to people voting at more than one location. Hall said on Thursday that spreading voting locations across a precinct makes it “impossible” to ensure an accurate count and that limiting voters to a central polling location would simplify the tally. There has been no evidence of systematic voter fraud in Texas.
Officials with the secretary of state’s election division have said the program — which began in rural counties — is popular among voters because it allows them to vote anywhere in the county. That is especially helpful in some of the state’s largest and most sprawling counties like Harris and Bexar, where Texans have long commutes from work to home and could possibly miss their window to vote if they don’t make it to their neighborhood precinct on time after work.
The bill is part of a yearslong effort by Republican lawmakers in the state to tighten voting laws. For years, GOP leaders have said that there needs to be stricter interpretation of the state’s voting laws to ensure the security of the vote. That motivation increased after 2020 when former President Donald Trump claimed without substantiation that current election laws had led to his electoral loss.
On the Senate floor on Thursday, Democratic lawmakers repeatedly asked Hall for concrete evidence of inaccurate vote counts. He first said there is no tangible evidence. “The data is so carefully guarded and kept from the public it is almost impossible to get the information,” Hall said.
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