Texas Democrats demanded Tuesday for the Texas House journal clerk to lock the state house voting machines, thereby denying the GOP majority a quorum needed to proceed with election integrity legislation.
Chair of the Texas House Democrat Caucus and State Rep. Chris Turner (D) stated, “Minutes ago, at least 57 letters were delivered to the house journal clerk directing the [Texas] House to lock our voting machines and not unlock them until we provide express permission to do so upon our return to the [Texas] capitol.”
Texas Dem lawmakers now talking at press conference on CapHill to push voting rights. Left Texas to prevent the state legislature from having a quorum to pass GOP voting bill.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 13, 2021
“It takes two-thirds of the body present to constitute a quorum, so 100 members,” Turner said, “and we vote in Texas and we register our attendance by use of voting machines on our desks.”
Texas House member Rafael Anchía (D) also spoke at the event, saying election integrity initiatives would be buckling “to the big lie.”
“We’re not doing this for Democrats. We’re not doing this for Republicans. We’re doing this for North & South Texans, Eastern & West Texans. And, we are not going to buckle to the big lie in the state of Texas,” he said.
Texas Rep. @RafaelAnchia: "We are not going to buckle to the 'big lie' in the state of Texas—the 'big lie' that has resulted in anti-democratic legislation throughout the United States. We said no when the 'big lie' came to the Capitol in Texas." https://t.co/tT5NyJamae pic.twitter.com/YvXAPmzOlP
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 13, 2021
Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Tuesday he will meet with the Texas lawmakers about their escape from Texas on a private jet while maskless.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) countered the fleeing lawmakers Monday by stating the legislators “will be arrested’ on return.
“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,” Abbott explained. “Everybody who has a job must show up to do that job, just like your viewers on watching right now. State representatives have that same responsibility.”
Abbott amped the presser by stating he will “continue to call a special session after special session after special session all the way up until election next year.”
Breitbart News reported pictures showing many smiling, maskless, Texas Democrats on a plane fleeing Texas to stunt election integrity efforts in the state, which would have placed additional restrictions on voting by mail, creating new ID requirements and expanding the freedoms for partisan poll watchers.
On June 2, Abbott told to the Dallas Morning News, “One of the primary things that we sought to achieve was to address flaws, as well as the possibility for cheating in mail-in ballots.”
“The voter law in the state of Texas is far more accommodative and provides far more hours to vote than it does in President Biden’s home state of Delaware, where he voted in the last election, where they offer exactly zero early voting days,” he continued. “If there’s any voter suppression taking place, the easier allegation is say that voter suppression has taken place in Delaware, not Texas.”
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