AUSTIN, Texas — State Sen. Carol Alvarado concluded a 15-hour filibuster of the voter suppression legislation Senate Bill 1 this morning. The bill passed out of the Senate afterwards.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas applauds opposition to SB 1. As outlined in our fact sheet, this bill would restrict voting by mail, ban drive-thru voting, empower partisan poll watchers, and impose other anti-voter measures that disproportionately target disabled Texans, communities of color, and older Texans.
The following quote can be attributed to Tommy Buser-Clancy, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas:
“Instead of addressing the real issues affecting Texans, Governor Abbott and his allies have spent the first week of this special session manipulating the rules to silence dissent and jam through extreme anti-civil liberty legislation. But Texans won’t be silenced.
We appreciate the efforts made by legislators in the last 24 hours to defend the voting rights of all Texans, in particular disabled Texans, communities of color, and older Texans targeted by voter suppression bill SB 1. Texas is already the hardest state in the country to vote. Lawmakers should be making it more convenient, accessible, and safer to vote — not using anti-democratic maneuvers to strip away Texans’ right to participate in our democracy.”
See our fact sheet on SB 1 below, as well as links to recent ACLU of Texas research showing that claims of voter irregularities by the Attorney General’s office are inaccurate and that the office’s investigations tend to target women and people of color.
Fact Sheet: Comparison of SB 1 and HB 3
Additional Resources:
- Voters of Color Appear to be Most Frequent Target of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Election Integrity Unit
- ACLU of Texas Finds Discrepancies with Texas Attorney General's Claims on Voting Prosecutions
- Texas Monthly — The Texas Election Bill Contains a New Obstacle to Voting That Almost No One Is Talking About
