President Biden slammed Texas state legislators Saturday for an election-law bill they say will tighten voting rules to prevent fraud — but which Biden said, “attacks the sacred right to vote.”
“It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans,” Biden said in a White House-issued statement.
The Texas bill was finalized Saturday in a closed-door meeting between leaders of the state’s House and Senate — all Republicans — after the two chambers passed different pieces of legislation meant to impose statewide standards on voting rules.
The compromise version bans drive-through voting, adds new ID requirements for mail-in ballots, and makes it a crime for local officials to send ballot applications to voters who haven’t requested them, the Texas Tribune reported.
It came as Republicans in Georgia, Florida, and other states rushed to enact “election integrity” laws in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, which saw unprecedented loosening of voting rules in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — and which led to President Trump’s continued claims of voter fraud.
A Democrat-led election reform bill meant to undo such changes has stalled in the US Senate.
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