Democracy Dies in Darkness

Texas House passes GOP voting restrictions that Democrats had blocked for weeks by fleeing the state

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August 27, 2021 at 2:46 p.m. EDT
Legislators pray in the Texas House chamber in Austin on Aug. 26. (Eric Gay/AP)
correction

An earlier version of this article said the Texas House had passed elections bill S.B. 1 on Thursday night. Thursday night’s vote moved the bill forward to a final vote on Friday. The article has been corrected and updated.

AUSTIN — Defying a months-long Democratic protest, the Texas House on Friday passed wide-ranging voting restrictions that opponents say will make casting ballots and administering elections harder in the state.

Elections bill S.B. 1 passed 80 to 41 mostly along party lines, with one Republican voting against the measure. Democrats — who broke quorum for weeks, fleeing Texas and facing the threat of arrest to stave off passage of the measure this summer — did not have the numbers to overcome the chamber’s GOP majority.