Texas 2021 Voter Suppression Law Finally Heads to Trial

Down in Texas, trial began in a consolidated federal lawsuit challenging the Lone Star State’s omnibus voter suppression law, S.B. 1. The fight over this legislation has been big since the start.

In July 2021, more than 50 Democratic members of the Texas House traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest the legislation. The former chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus contextualized the exodus: “[W]e are in a fight to save our democracy. The nationwide Republican voter suppression efforts are coming to a crisis point in the state of Texas right now.” 

Despite Texas Democrats’ valiant efforts, which garnered national attention and sparked calls for renewed federal voting rights legislation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed S.B. 1 into law on Sept. 7, 2021 following a second special legislative session. Enacted under the guise of “election integrity” and “preventing fraud” in the wake of the 2020 election — where no evidence of widespread voter fraud occurred — the Republican-sponsored law doubles down on voting restrictions in the Lone Star State. Even prior to the passage of S.B. 1, Texas already ranked last in the nation with regards to voter registration and voting access.

So, what does S.B. 1 do? 

• Wages a multi-pronged attack on mail-in voting, which, among other things, imposes strict ID requirements and effectively bans ballot drop boxes,
• Bans drive-thru voting and cuts down early voting hours, 
• Establishes new opportunities for voter purges,
• Creates onerous barriers for voters who need assistance and
• Empowers and loosens regulations on partisan poll watchers. 
  • This provision sounds innocuous enough, however, it is particularly concerning in the ever-growing atmosphere of conservative election vigilantes.

Over the next month and a half, the court will weigh evidence and hear testimony from both the pro-voting groups who brought the consolidated lawsuit and the Texas state officials defending S.B. 1. Ultimately, a federal judge will decide whether S.B. 1 remains on the books or not.

“No Gerrymandering” Is Not An Answer Alabama Republicans Accept

In terms of dedication to gerrymandering maps, Republicans in Alabama are starting to look a lot like Ohio Republicans. 

After a lower court blocked Alabama’s Republican-backed congressional plan last week for not having a second majority-Black district, as a federal court order instructed, Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause the lower court’s ruling. 

In blocking the Republican-backed plan on Sept. 5, a federal three-judge panel of two Trump appointees and one Reagan appointee wrote that “we are deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires.” 

Before going to the nation’s highest court, Allen asked the lower court to pause their own ruling, but the court declined after finding that Allen “offers no reason, let alone a compelling one, why Alabamians should have to wait that long to vote under a lawful congressional districting map.” Despite this, Allen made a similar plea to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.   

Allen is now shamelessly asking the Supreme Court to allow voters to vote under yet another unfair map for the 2024 elections. Five justices on the Supreme Court would have to agree to grant Allen’s request. While there’s no telling what the Court will do, finding five favorable justices might be hard for Allen as five justices were in the majority of the Court’s June 2023 decision that affirmed that the state’s 2021 map should be blocked.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has asked the pro-voting plaintiffs to respond to Alabama's request to reinstate a Republican-backed congressional map for the 2024 elections by Sept. 19. Meanwhile, at the district court level, court-appointed experts have already begun taking over the map drawing process to enact a new, fair map for the 2024 elections. Plaintiffs in the case  submitted their proposed map after the court struck down new districts enacted by Republicans. The proposed plan has two majority-Black districts, as the court ordered. 

Wisconsin Republicans Grasping At Straws And Their Gerrymandered Power

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers’ power-hungry, anti-democratic shenanigans are hitting a new low. For weeks, Republicans have threatened to impeach recently elected liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protaseiwicz if she declines to recuse herself from redistricting litigation over the state’s gerrymandered legislative maps. 

• On Monday, two Wisconsin voters filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court seeking to block Republican lawmakers from conducting impeachment proceedings against Protasiewicz, who has since recused herself from the case.

Meanwhile, Republican legislators have pivoted to an alternative tactic aimed at entrenching their power in the state. Earlier this week, Republican lawmakers led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) introduced legislation — which they previously opposed — that would create a new redistricting process based on Iowa’s nonpartisan redistricting model. 

While this system sounds reasonable to the extent that it would take redistricting out of the purview of the Legislature and into the hands of a nonpartisan entity, that is not entirely the case. Instead, if the Republican-controlled Legislature rejects the first two sets of maps proposed by the nonpartisan entity, it can take over the redistricting process and enact its preferred set of maps by a simple majority. 

• Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) excoriated the Republicans' plan, calling it a “bogus…last-ditch effort to retain legislative control.” Other critics view the Republicans’ plan as a ploy to circumvent the pending litigation in the state Supreme Court that challenges the state’s legislative maps for being unfair partisan gerrymanders. 

Also in Wisconsin, the state Senate voted to remove the state's top elections official, Meagan Wolfe, on Thursday by a 22-11 party line vote. Republicans’ vote to remove Wolfe from the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) is the culmination of a long and winding process that was fueled by conspiracies surrounding the 2020 presidential election. As a nonpartisan election official, Wolfe was nominated to lead WEC by the commission itself in 2019 and confirmed with unanimous support by the Wisconsin Senate. 

Although no next steps exist for the Legislature, the dispute over Wolfe’s nomination is far from over. Following yesterday’s vote, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wolfe and WEC arguing that the Senate's vote to remove Wolfe has no legal effect and that she is still the "lawful" chief elections official. 

Meadows and Trump Make Last Ditch Efforts in Their Election Subversion Cases

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' request to move his Fulton County criminal charges to federal court was denied last Friday, a win for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis who had argued against the request. 

Meadows appealed the decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If he loses that appeal, his last hope would be to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

And in another setback, a federal judge ruled that Meadow’s criminal charges would remain in state court as his appeal to the 11th Circuit is litigated. Meadows had asked a federal court to pause the ruling while litigation continues, but the judge wrote that Meadows had shown “no likelihood” of “prevailing on the merits of his appeal.”

Meanwhile, in the Washington, D.C. election subversion case, former President Donald Trump asked that district court Judge Tanya Chutkan recuse herself from overseeing his case, a haphazard legal move that is unlikely to succeed. Trump claims Chutkan’s previous comments  “unavoidably taint” the proceedings.

More News

• A federal judge struck down parts of Arizona voter suppression law, House Bill 2492. Among its provisions, the law requires strict proof of citizenship to vote.
• The California Legislature passed a bill to change how counties can revise voting system plans after deep red Shasta County voted to end its voting machines contract and hand count ballots instead. The bill now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for his signature.
• The U.S. Department of Justice defended a North Dakota law, currently facing a right-wing legal challenge, that counts mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to 13 days later.
• Georgia canceled nearly 189,000 voter registrations ahead of the 2024 elections. Around 2,700 Georgians have updated their registration information since July, so the number of cancellations is lower than previously proposed.

OPINION: After Court Ruling, Thousands of Mississippians Could Get Their Right to Vote

By Arekia S. Bennett-Scott, the executive director of Mississippi Votes. Read more ➡️

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day and with the 2024 elections coming up around the corner, there is no better time to ensure your voter registration is up to date. To celebrate this important day, Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote is hosting a kickoff rally with the former first lady, Rita Wilson, Liza Koshy and Sheryl Lee Ralph on Monday at 7 p.m. EDT. Tune in here and don’t forget to check your registration!

Defending Democracy, our podcast, is back! In the first episode of the season, Marc and Paige speak with Paloma Wu of the Mississippi Center for Justice and Hannah Williams of Mississippi Votes about the 5th Circuit’s decision to strike down the state’s Jim Crow-era “cruel and unusual” felony disenfranchisement law. Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.