Fact-checking of the Texas Republican laws regarding state laws

Fact-checking of the Texas Republican laws regarding state laws

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To justify many of the changes in the law, the Republic of Texas points to election practices in 2020 in Harris County, which includes Houston, and argues that the county goes far beyond the Texas electoral code by enabling voting and the sent ballot by mail. applications and allow voters to register via mailbox addresses.

While Harris County has been scrutinized for expanding voice access in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a dual, multi-agency security task force has not found any cases of voter fraud in the province before the election. in 2020.

Here’s a look at the facts surrounding the claims of Republicans from Texas:

Drive-through stemming

The opening of drive-through polling stations was one of the controversial practices Harris County applied because of Covid-19.

Republicans from Texas have argued that the use is not allowed under the state’s election code.

“Drive-through voting has never been allowed in Texas,” Texas Senate Bryan Hughes told CNN on Monday. “It does not appear in the election code.”

Facts first: This is misleading. The Texas Code stipulates that polling stations must be in a building on election day, but that early voting is allowed inside movable structures. The Texas Election Code does not prohibit explicit tests for exclusive polling stations.
In November, the Texas Supreme Court denied Republican requests for approximately 127,000 votes cast by the 2020 election.

Early voting can take place in any “structure,” the definition of which is flexible, according to Joaquin Gonzalez, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, a legal advocates group.

“If we look at the context of ‘structure’ in other areas, it’s wider than just a building,” Gonzalez said. “This is actually what the federal court agreed to.”

The federal court in Houston dismissed the requests to block drive-through polls, saying the plaintiffs – a Republican state attorney, two GOP candidates and a Conservative activist – have no right to sue Harris County.

The published opinion by U.S. Southern District Judge Andrew Hanen agrees that “structure” was not specifically defined in the Texas Electoral Code and noted that the code allows “temporary polling stations” during early voting. Hanen stated that drive-through voting during early voting is permissible because tents used at polling stations will be considered ‘structures’.

If the Texas House accepts it, the proposed legislation would ban the use of drive-through voting by restricting polling stations to buildings and banning the use of movable structures. SB 7 declares that “a polling station is not located in a tent or other temporary movable structure or in a facility designed primarily for motor vehicles,” and adds that “no voter may cast a vote in” a motor vehicle ‘, unless the voters meet the criteria of another section that takes into account disabilities.

Voice applications

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has argued that the “integrity of the 2020 election” has been called into question, saying the Houston County Election Registry is trying to email unsolicited applications to millions of voters, including many would not be eligible. vote per pos. ”

Facts first: It’s true that Harris County clerk Chris Hollins planned to email all 2.4 million registered voters in the country by email. Under Texas law, only 65-year-olds and older, sick or disabled, are incarcerated in prison or outside the state on Election Day are eligible to vote by mail.
The Texas Attorney General has sued Hollins for violating Texas election law, claiming that he acted out of his power as a bureaucrat and that the mass mailing of ballots to voters would sow ‘confusion’. The Texas Supreme Court ruled in October that there was no evidence that the pandemic would inadequate the usual distribution of ballots, and ultimately Harris County would not send applications to all registered voters.
New legislation in the Texas House would make it an offense for election officials to distribute “voting or voting materials,” including absentee ballot applications, to voters who did not request them. Texas is one of a handful of states where people do not automatically vote by mail. If implemented, HB 6 will further reduce the voicemail system in Texas.

PO Boxes

State Senator Paul Bettencourt, a Republican, criticized election officials at a March 15 press conference, saying that one of his “pets, and I just can not believe we’re still doing it in Harris County, is that we allow it. not people who have to register in private mailboxes. “

“No one in this room lives in a 2-by-three-inch private mailbox,” Bettencourt continued. “But in Harris County, 4,880, nearly 5,000 people are still registered.”

During the 2018 midterm elections, Bettencourt expressed similar concern about the Harris County voter list, criticizing the province’s registrar’s decision to challenge 4,000 registrations that allegedly use commercial retail outlets, such as UPS stores, as their address. to show.

“(We must have a voter list that operates in Harris County,” Bettencourt said at the time. “We cannot hold an election in the laden atmosphere of 2018 without a voter list in which the public believes in its integrity.”

Facts first: It needs context. Although private mailboxes are not accepted for registration of voters in Harris County, the Electoral Code in Texas stipulates that if an applicant does not have a residential address, they can use the address to which they receive an “email” with a ‘concise’ description the location of the applicant’s residence. ”

Bettencourt told CNN he was referring to people registering with a commercial mail order address. This is allowed under the Texas Election Code.

According to Roxanne Werner, Deputy Communications Director of the Harris County Electoral Administration, applications for registration of voters in Harris County that contain a mailbox as an address are not processed. Texans must include a physical address on their voter registration applicant, in which there is no space to enter a mailbox number. Under address, the application itself says “Do not include mailbox.”

Store addresses look the same as an apartment or home address on voter applications and election officials cannot dispute voters’ addresses unless it is clearly a mailbox, Werner said.

Bettencourt has introduced seven ‘election integrity’ bills to the Texas legislature since March. One of the bills, SB 1111, is aimed at eliminating the alleged use of mailboxes for registration by giving voters documentation that they live at their registered address. Under the bill, commercial mail order addresses will be unacceptable.

For those without a physical address, Bettencourt’s proposed legislation would require them to give an affidavit to the registrar stating that they have no address and to give a concise description of the location of the voter residence. ‘

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