Democrat Lawmakers Leave Texas, GOP Governor Threatens Their Arrests

A majority of Democrat state legislatures in Texas left the state to prevent the GOP-controlled state house’s attempt to pass a broad election reform bill that they said was too onerous and would discriminate against voters who vote Democrat, the Hill reported. In response, Texan governor Greg Abbott said that when they returned, they would be arrested.

The Democrats traveled to Washington, DC to push the Democrat majority to pass voting laws that will expand voting accessibility.

In May, Democrat legislatures staged a walkout of the statehouse to prevent the passage of an election reform bill that would have restricted voting access.

The new bills would have limited early voting and curbside voting, banned round-the-clock voting centers, banned voting facilities in outdoor structures, eliminated straight-ticket voting and limited the use of drop boxes. Texas already has some of the strictest voting laws in the country.

Abbott vowed to arrest the lawmakers and forcibly keep them in the state capital until the bills are passed.

“If these people want to be hanging out wherever they’re hanging out on this taxpayer-paid junket, they’re going to have to be prepared to do it for well over a year. As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,” Abbot sais.

Texas State Rep. Jasmine Crockett responded to Abbot by saying, “there is no law that he can make up by himself to somehow make it a crime that we did everything that we could under the Constitution.”

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smarcus@hamodia.com