Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a restrictive voting bill into law that puts new hurdles on mail-in ballots and bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting.
The Republican governor said ‘election integrity is now law in the state of Texas’, as he signed Senate Bill 1 on Tuesday. Voting rights advocates say the bill makes it harder for people of color to vote.
‘It does make it easier than ever before for anybody to go cast a ballot,’ the Republican governor said from Tyler, Texas. ‘It does also, however, make sure it is harder than ever for people to cheat at the ballot box.’
Under the new law, local officials can be hit with felony charges for sending unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to state residents. People who vote-by-mail must provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to apply for a ballot and when they send it in.
Texas Democrats earlier fled the Capitol in Austin to try to stop the controversial voting restrictions. The Democrats stopped a similar measure from passing in May at the end of the state’s regular legislative session. Abbott then had to convene two special sessions to consider the so-called ‘election integrity’ bill.
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