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While you are occupied by COVID-19 surgeTexas legislators have worked hard to prepare for the new semester and prepare for another disappointing Cowboys season.
Don’t take it in the sense that they actually did something, and certainly nothing good.
Brief summary: in about a week Second special session At the behest of Governor Greg Abbott, the House of Representatives has not yet met enough lawmakers to do business. Many Democrats remain in Washington who have decided to abandon the Republican election bill.Some are back, and Speaker of the House Dade Phelan State soldiers allowed to be arrested Take them to your room and start a court battle. Meanwhile, the Senate is cranking out legislation from Abbott’s tight wish list.
All sides of this battle need to grow. We’re far past the point where we expect everyone to be exaggerated enough to put the state’s greatest needs first, but both sides so that we can all move on. Need to give a little.
Democrats need to return to Austin and respect the legislative process. Their flight to Washington to break the quorum during the first special session has been plagued by embarrassment one after another. Positive COVID cases They / did not guess if they were two Congressman moved the fight to Portugal For vacation.
No one likes to lose, but the answer is not to shut down the entire process, but to win a majority or win the debate.
The more urgent responsibility lies with the Republicans. They will eventually win this battle, and they must be graceful about it. The move to arrest their fellow lawmakers is overkill. House Democrats are not criminals, but representatives of legally elected districts.
Republicans should also listen to complaints about the laws they are promoting. We still have time to find ways to avoid the worst mistakes in voting bills and address legitimate concerns about their implications.
As the Republican Party said every time it was raised, the election bill Born from unnecessary, accidentally whipped-up concerns Massive fraud and refusal among party rabies bases to accept that President Donald Trump lost the fair elections.
In Texas, these forces were widespread and sophisticated, with a surprising amount of cheating, that Trump couldn’t get the same number of votes as other Republicans, but made Joe Biden a state. He pitifully claims that it means he couldn’t deliver it. Of course, the evidence is retrofit.
But most of the bill’s provisions aren’t a hassle, and the longer Democrats fight it, the farther their rhetoric about its effects goes from reality. Not all battles are a repeat of the civil rights era of the 1960s.
One real issue recently identified in the Texas Monthly / Votebeat report is Confirmation of early voter ID.. Under the bill, absentee ballots are required to provide a driver’s license or social security number. Most voters have both in the state database, but nearly 2 million people are registered in only one, so listing the wrong ones can reject a mail ballot request.
The Senate, which approved the latest version of the bill on Thursday, Allow voters to correct mistakesHowever, the entire process adds pressure and difficulty to local election authorities.
Meanwhile, the Governor has added more fragmented issues to the agenda of this session, while Vice-Governor Dan Patrick is promoting issues such as sports transgender students and local government restrictions. Lawmakers have also reduced public opinion on the bill, pointing out that the measure has been debated over and over again. Foreseeing a decline in tolerance for public participation is a bad precedent.
At this point, only the most enthusiastic partisans of both sides are fully engaged in this battle. Politicians are better off compromising and putting it together before other people start paying attention.
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