The Texas House passed Friday a sweeping election law after months of Democratic opposition that included a nearly six-week quorum break.
The House passed the bill 80-41 about a week after the Democrats ended their 38-day walkout. Lawmakers debated the controversial bill for more than 12 hours Thursday before giving it final passage Friday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted Thursday that he looked "forward to signing this bill into law."
...The Texas Senate passed its version of the bill earlier this month after Democratic state Senator Carol Alvardo filibustered the bill for 15 hours. The House made some changes, so the bill will either go to conference committee, where the two chambers could work on a new version of the bill, or the Senate could approve what the House passed and send it to Abbott's desk.
As it stands, the bill would eliminate drive-thru and 24-hour early voting, both of which were widely used in the Houston area last year during the pandemic. It would also expand early voting hours in some smaller and medium-sized counties; add ID requirements for voting by mail; ban officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballots requests; give more powers to partisan poll watchers; and create new rules, with potential criminal penalties, for election workers and people who assist voters....