The Future of Voting In Texas

Michelle Lam/Houston Public Media

Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, questions@townsquaretalk.org or @townsquaretalk.

First, bills are being considered in the Texas legislature that will impact voting. While some call these bills a way to instill voter confidence others have declared it voter suppression, such as our first guest Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

Then, we continue a deep dive into the current bills being considered in the Texas legislature that will impact voting with Bob Stein, professor of political science at Rice University.

Some of the bills are:

• SB-7 bans 24-hour voting – or any expansion of voting hours beyond the 12-hour limit of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Requires a doctor’s note for curbside voting, and bar the mass mailing of vote-by-mail applications.
• SB-1111 requires the voter to provide documentation that the voter lives at the address where they are registered when they receive a confirmation request from the registrar.
• SB-1113 provides the Secretary of State the authority to withhold Chapter 19 funds if the voter registrar or elections administrator fails to remove voters who should be canceled from the voter roll in a timely matter.
• SB-1112 prohibits local election officials from suspending the requirement of the Early Voting Ballot Board to verify that the signature on the mail ballot application and the signature on the mail ballot are from the voter.
• SB – 1114 requires registrars to cross-reference voter rolls and motor vehicle records where a person indicated that he or she is not a U.S. citizen, and remove ineligible voters.

Guests:

Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter

Bob Stein, Professor of Political Science at Rice University

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