Demonstrators Gather at Texas Capitol to Advocate for Voting Rights
May 14, 2021 - Statewide
Voting Rights Center of Debate. On April 21, 2021 Texas Rising Action held obstacle courses in Houston and at the Capitol in Austin to demonstrate the difficulties Texas voters have to go through. Photos: B. Kay Richter.
By Sumit Nagar and Valeria Torrealba | San Antonio Sentinel
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Demonstrators headed to the Texas Capitol on May 6 to continue protesting against HB 6 and SB 7.
- HB 6 and SB 7 are currently being voted on in the Texas Senate and House, both pieces of legislation which civil rights groups claim promote voter suppression.
The last few weeks continues to see strong movement among civil rights group protesting at the Texas Capitol against both HB 6 and SB 7 to protect voting rights in the state. Both bills have been criticized for voter suppression, similar to Georgia’s SB 202.
HB 6, by Rep. Briscoe Cain and SB 7, by Sen. Bryan Hughes, will limit early voting hours, prohibit drive-in voting, would reduce voting locations and will provide extra protection to poll watchers, allowing them to video record voters as they fill in their ballots.
There is growing concern amongst Texans that HB 6 and SB 7 will make it harder for minority populations (people of color, first-time voters, the disabled, etc.) to cast their ballots. Charlie Bonner, the Communications Director at MOVE Texas believes that this legislation will add to the struggles minority voters already face.
“We see these as a real blatant attack on the right to vote for all Texans but it will have a disproportionate impact on voters of color, voters with a disability, first-time voters, voters who are new Americans, and those are the folks who for whom the barriers have always been placed,” Bonner said. “This legislation is on the backdrop of the most restrictive voting laws in the country that are already [in] the books. So this clamping down, this power grab that we're seeing is nothing but a cynical attempt at holding on to power, and it's shameful.”
Bonner wants to put pressure on Gov. Greg Abbott in hopes of him not signing either piece of legislation.
“We know he has a long track record of voter suppression that spans back to his time as Attorney General, but the landscape is completely different,” Bonner said. “We're now in uncharted territory right now with thousands of people speaking out, with businesses speaking out, with federal legislation moving to protect the right to vote. So we will be extending all of our resources to make sure that the governor knows what's at stake right now.”
On April 21, Texas Rising Action held obstacle courses in Houston and at the Capitol in Austin to demonstrate the difficulties Texas voters have to go through.
The event featured a variety of speakers, ranging from county judges to state congressmen. Rep. Rafael Anchia, the Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, voiced his displeasure toward both bills, stating they will diminish the strength of Texas voters.
“Texas is already at the bottom of the 50 states, usually in the lowest quintile of states related to voter participation,” Anchia said. “And this will continue that trend rather than strengthening our democracy by making it easier for more people to participate in the process they want to do just the opposite.”
Rose Clouston, the Voter Protection Director of the Texas Democratic Party, said her team received 30,000 calls from voters in 2020 who explained the challenges they faced while voting.
“None of those people called to tell me that it was too easy to register to vote,” Clouston said. “What they’d call to tell us and to get help with, thousands of them was that they had to wait in line for hours to vote. Some even had to leave the line, because they couldn't wait. Some folks had a lot of difficulty registering because we don't allow people to register online and folks were confused. We need to make it more convenient and acceptable for hardworking Texans to exercise their right to vote, not put more obstacles in their way.”
Mike Collier, who ran for lieutenant governor against Dan Patrick in 2018, says HB 6 and SB 7 are designed to help Republican legislators stay in power by restricting voter access.
“These folks don't want to be held accountable,” Collier said. “They don't want to be held accountable for such a bad job that they're doing. If you do a bad job in our democracy, you get fired. That's the way it's supposed to work. That's what they're trying to avoid by preventing people from voting.”
Companies such as HP, Microsoft, Unilever, American Airlines amongst others have spoken out against HB 6 and SB 7. Collier believes that these bills will adversely affect the economic environment in the state.
“I think it's going to have a very negative impact on the business environment in the state of Texas,” Collier said. “I come from the business world. I mean, that's what I do. I deal with people who invest in Texas all day long. They want to invest in the state where democracy thrives. It's in their best financial interest…What this is doing is attracting all of the wrong kind of attention to the great state of Texas.”
Sumit Nagar is currently studying journalism and minoring in business administration at Texas State University. He started writing for The University Star in the fall of 2020 and now is the sports editor at the paper. Email him at reporter@sasentinel.com