Jun 7, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos presided over a status conference on the ongoing Voter ID litigation today in Corpus Christi to discuss potential remedies. Broadly, the state argued that Senate Bill 5 appropriately remedied any outstanding issues...
Jun 1, 2017 | Legislation
Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law bills that conform the state’s Voter ID law to recent judicial rulings and end the option to cast a single-punch, straight-party ballot after the 2018 general election. Senate Bill 5 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) codifies a process...
May 29, 2017 | Legislation
This post had been updated to reflect Gov. Abbott’s subsequent actions on these bills. The 85th Legislature, Regular Session has adjourned sine die. While there are rumors of a special session in the air, one is not likely to include election-related issues....
May 27, 2017 | breaking-news, Legislation
Updated. The conference committee on Senate Bill 5, the Voter ID fix, largely kept to the Senate’s version and rejected House language calling for a voter turnout strategic plan and a report on voter education expenditures. The conference committee report (pdf) was...
May 25, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: The Senate refused to concur in House amendments to Senate Bill 5 and appointed a conference committee comprised of Sens. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), Eddie Lucio Jr. (D-Brownsville) and Jane Nelson...
May 24, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: The House gave final approval to Senate Bill 5, the Voter ID fix, by a party-line 93-55 vote. The bill goes back to the Senate for either concurrence or a request to appoint a conference committee. LTGOV: Beaumont pastor Michael Cooper announced his...
May 23, 2017 | Legislation
The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that largely conforms the state’s Voter ID law to a court decision requiring a process for people to vote who lack an acceptable form of identification. The 95-54, almost party-line vote capped a lengthy debate over the...
May 15, 2017 | Campaign News
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear, for purely procedural reasons, the state of North Carolina’s appeal of a decision striking down its Voter ID law. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote (pdf) that the decision had nothing to do with the merits of the case but...
May 14, 2017 | Legislation
The 85th Texas Legislature, Regular Session is down to its final two weeks. We have already passed two of the session’s most significant end-of-session deadlines: the last day a House committee may report a House bill (May 8) and the last day the House may consider a...
Apr 10, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: “A discriminatory purpose was at least one of the substantial or motivating factors behind passage” of the state’s Voter ID law, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled. Ramos previously came to the same conclusion, but a divided Fifth Circuit Court...
Apr 3, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled that any changes made to the state’s Voter ID law this year will have no effect on the trial to determine whether it was originally passed with discriminatory intent. “The claim is not, and will not be, moot as...
Mar 28, 2017 | Campaign News
Voter ID: The Senate gave final approval to Sen. Joan Huffman’s (R-Houston) bill to update the state’s Voter ID law, conforming it to a recent judicial order requiring an option for voters who are impeded from obtaining one of the required identifications. GOV: Gov....
