The Texas governor has signed new GOP voting restrictions into law

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TYLER, Texas (AP) Republic of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an election overhaul into law Tuesday that adds more voting restrictions to the booming state, after spending months the Democrats protesting their said efforts to weaken the minority number and maintain the decaying power of the GOP.

Abbott signed the sweeping changes at a ceremony in the city of Tyler in East Texas, where the surrounding province went for former President Donald Trump by a more than 2-to-1 margin last year. But it’s closer to overall Texas, with Trump bringing the state by 5 1/2 points, the thinnest victory of a GOP presidential nominee here in decades.

The signing of the bill again underscores the tough right turn made by Texas Republicans this year, with a new state law that went into effect last week banning most abortions. Abbott said he chose Tyler because it is the home of the authors of the voting bills, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes, who is also the author of new abortion restrictions.

That is, the rewriting of voting laws in Texas is the target of at least three federal lawsuits including another filed Tuesday and everyone is arguing the changes will have a disproportionate impact on minorities. Abbott and other Republicans said it expanded access by increasing the minimum number of early voting hours, but the law also puts new restrictions on late-night voting.

I am confident that when this law goes through the trial stage, it will be followed, Abbott said. Because that’s exactly what we’ve said, it makes it easier for people to be able to vote. No one eligible to vote will be denied the opportunity to vote.

Texas is among at least 18 states that have implemented new voting restrictions since the 2020 election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The laws are part of a national GOP campaign, along with Florida, Georgia and Arizona, to tighten voting laws in the name of security, which Trump has partly fueled false claims that the election was stolen.

Opponents did not wait for Abbotts ’signature to begin filing lawsuits against the new Texas law known as Senate Bill 1. The American Civil Liberties Union, minority rights groups and disability advocates are part of a broad coalition filed a separate lawsuit last week in federal court in Texas, accusing Republican lawmakers of violating the federal Voting Rights Act and intentionally discriminating against minorities.

Some of the changes eventually focused on Harris County in the Houston area, where President Joe Biden brought the province 1.6 million voters last year by a 13-point margin. In the midst of last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, Harris County election officials offered 24-hour polling stations and drive-thru voting, which are now banned under the new law. The county has also tried sending mail-in ballot applications to more than 2 million registered voters, but going forward in Texas, any election official who tries to send an application to someone who didn’t request one could face the criminal cases.

Partisan poll watchers also deserve more movement, and election judges who block them could also face criminal penalties, which Democrats argue could lead to voter intimidation.

Black votes are now suppressed. Texas Governor Greg Abbott deliberately signed democracy for so many. We are disgusted, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

In response to new voting restrictions in GOP -controlled statehouses, Democrats in Congress wanted to pass new federal voting rights protections at the federal level but failed to defeat opposition from Senate Republicans. .

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended Bidens ’approach about voting rights, saying the president used his bully pulpit and made Vice President Kamala Harris a point person on the issue. But Psaki said the administration plans to take additional but unspecified steps to address concerns from voting rights groups. We will tell these advocates: we stand with you, Psaki told reporters on Tuesday aboard Air Force One. More will continue to work together.

Abbott signed the bill 100 days after Democrats began a summer of final summer maneuvers by walking out of the state Capitol to temporarily block the measure. That was followed by more than 50 Democrats flying to Washington, DC, in July to block the bill a second time, leading Republicans to issue civil arrest warrants in an effort to force Democrats to return. , even if no one is forced to return.

But the protests did not replace significant changes to the bill, underscoring Republicans ’determination to pass the measure and the strength of their ruling majority in the Texas Capitol.

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Reported by Weber from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writer Joshua Boak in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.

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