Texas Democrats in the state’s House blocked an election integrity bill on Sunday night, walking out of the floor of the chamber, thereby leaving Republicans without a quorum to vote on the measure, Senate Bill 7.
Texas lawmakers had until midnight to vote on the bill following its passage in the Texas Senate. According to the Washington Post, the House Democrat Chairman passed along instructions to his Democrat colleagues less than two hours before the bill’s deadline.
“Members, take your key and leave the chamber discreetly,” Turner reportedly wrote. “Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building.”
In a statement, Turner said it “became obvious Republicans were going to cut off debate to ram through their vote suppression legislation,” giving Democrats “no choice but to take extraordinary measures to protect our constituents and their right to vote.”
Texas Democrat Rep. Jessica González said Democrats decided to show that they “weren’t going to take it.”
“We needed to be part of the process. Cutting us out completely — I mean, this law will affect every single voter in Texas,” she added, referencing the measure that parallels the voting integrity laws in Georgia and Florida.
The bill itself put more restrictions on voting by mail and “enhanced civil and criminal penalties for election administrators, voters and those seeking to assist them.”
The bill clamps down on voting by mail, making it a state jail felony for local officials to distribute applications to request mail-in ballots to voters who didn’t ask for them. This ban was also a response to Harris County’s failed attempt to send applications to all 2.4 million registered voters last year, even though other Texas counties sent applications to voters 65 and older without controversy. Although those voters automatically qualify to vote by mail, SB 7 bans counties from proactively mailing unrequested applications to them in the future. Political parties can still send unsolicited applications, as both Republicans and Democrats often do before elections.