Editorial: Democrats can’t walk out forever. We need For The People Act to protect Texans’ voting access

Ironic, isn’t it, that the elected officials who consider the Second Amendment to the Constitution inviolate, who hold fiercely to the notion that the right to own a gun is sacrosanct, are invariably the same people who ignore the spirit of those constitutional amendments that represent an expansion of political freedom.

We have in mind, of course, those amendments that recognize our right to vote. They represent almost a third of the amendments to the Constitution after the Bill of Rights was ratified. They are foundational to our democracy.

Who does state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, think he is, that he can tinker with a citizen’s basic right, that he can decide on a whim that Texans (read: Black Texans) can vote on Sundays but only after 1 p.m? Who does he think he is, that he can decide Harris County cannot allow residents to cast their ballot in the middle of the night, for example, after working the late shift?

Officially, Hughes and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, are the sponsors of a now-notorious raft of legislative provisions designed specifically to make it harder, not easier, for their fellow Texans to vote. They and fellow Republicans in the Legislature, along with Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, are heirs to a contemptible tradition of voter suppression in this country, and especially in this state.

It may take a milder form today than the poll taxes and impossible-to-pass literacy tests of the past but the basic intent is the same: for politicians to pick their voters — the ones who will keep them in power — and not the other way around. Like cutting-horse cowhands, they seek to use the law to lasso renegade voters for the other party and cut them out of the herd.

Texas Republicans and their counterparts in other states know that elections weren’t stolen last fall — as GOP election administrators around the country confirmed — but they feel compelled to humor a dangerously deluded former president by perpetuating the myth of widespread voter fraud. Otherwise, his “base” will kick them out of office.

Texas Republicans not only want to suppress the vote to their advantage, they also seek to disregard election results that don’t go their way. One of their bills would lower the burden of proof to overturn elections over voter-fraud claims from “clear and convincing evidence” to a “preponderance of the evidence,” a much lower threshold. Voters be damned, in other words; they’ll decide the victors.

To block a voter-suppression package that had been dramatically transformed at the last minute without public debate, Democrats in the Texas House resorted to a walkout, thereby thwarting a quorum. That won’t likely work again. When the governor calls lawmakers back into special session, Democrats will almost certainly lack the numbers to stop the suppressionists.

For Texans dedicated to protecting voter rights, the only hope resides in Washington, as it has in years past. As in the 1860s, when Reconstruction-era amendments to the Constitution guaranteed freed slaves the right to vote (among other rights as full-fledged citizens), and in 1965, when Congress reaffirmed voting rights as a bedrock principle, the federal government yet again must step in. This year’s equivalent to the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act is titled the For the People Act.

While there are valid questions of overreach surrounding the legislation, its bones are solid and its spirit is true. It seeks to stop the erosion of voter rights at the hands of state lawmakers by establishing a nationwide floor for voter access. States could do more than the law calls for, but not less.

Texas already meets some proposed standards, such as allowing people who have completed felony sentences to vote, but voters here could see many rights expanded in several key ways. Texans, for the first time, would be able to register to vote online, or make changes such as updating an address. Instead of having to register 30 days before an election, eligible voters would be able to register the same day they vote. The bill also increases the minimum number of early voting days and expands mail-in voting, which currently is available only to Texans who are disabled and meet other strict requirements. And while some in Texas are trying to outlaw secure drop boxes for ballots, the act would require more of them.

Another provision would basically nullify voter-ID requirements that Republican legislatures such as Texas’ have enacted across the country and instead allow voters to sign affidavits attesting to their identity. While this change would certainly be controversial, and even baffling for some who always have a driver license at the ready, the federal reform reflects the fact that obtaining an ID is still an obstacle for some elderly, disabled and low-income voters lacking transportation. It also reflects that, in Texas and elsewhere, the kind of fraud the ID laws were meant to combat — somebody impersonating someone else at the polls — is practically unheard of, with only two instances of it seen in Texas in the entire decade before the law was passed.

The most far-reaching provision, which has the power to truly strengthen our representative democracy as a whole, is a mandate to replace partisan redistricting with non-partisan commissions, which have been embraced by states such as Arizona, California, Colorado and Ohio. To keep politics from creeping into the selection of commission members, the federal act establishes thorough rules.

Redistricting, the holy grail of political power, is the once-a-decade redrawing of political maps and it’s supposed to reflect a state’s changing census population figures. In reality, it too often reflects incumbents’ best attempt at job security via creative gerrymandering, a process of distorting district lines into funny shapes to let politicians choose voters rather than the other way around.

The Supreme Court has not ruled partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional, as a majority of justices haven’t agreed on a standard for when redistricting for partisan gain crosses the line, though it has repeatedly held that drawing maps that disproportionately harm voters of color is banned. That hasn’t stopped Texas from trying, of course, as the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted in the voter ID case: “every redistricting cycle since 1970, Texas has been found to have violated” the Voting Rights Act, “with racially gerrymandered districts.” Texas, the court added, “is the only state with this consistent record of objections to such statewide plans.”

This record is why Texans cannot trust our Legislature to craft fair voting laws and why we should welcome the central tenets of the For the People Act.

Not everything in the federal bill is a good idea. Conservatives crying federal overreach have made some valid points. Some provisions, such as requiring states to mail out ballots, may prove more expensive than effective. But those quibbles can’t change the fact that America desperately need a comprehensive bill to raise the floor for voting rights nationwide. That’s especially true now because the federal oversight that voters in states such as Texas long relied on to block discriminatory voting laws doesn’t exist after the Supreme Court in 2013 ruled, with breathtaking naivete, that “preclearance” is unnecessary.

Incidentally, we renew our call for the U.S. Senate to pass another, more modest piece of legislation that would reinstate that safety valve for voter rights. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2020, named for the civil rights icon and longtime congressman who passed away last year, would restore what he called “the most powerful section” of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: the one that imposed preclearance requirements in jurisdictions that demonstrate a clear need for it.

Passing the larger bill in Congress won’t be easy, with the U.S. Senate split 50-50. Many Democrats see this as a prime reason to get rid of what’s left of the filibuster. While that may be necessary, we’d strongly prefer something even more old-fashioned — negotiation with just enough Republicans to get the 60 votes needed to bring the bill, including any necessary compromises, to a vote.

But the recent walkout in the Texas House may have strengthened Democratic resolve to find a way past Republicans’ obstructionism. “We did our part,” tweeted state Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood. “Now we need Congress to do their part.”

And Texans should do our part. Urge your Congress members to protect Texans’ ballot access before our governor and legislative leaders erode it even further.