Gov. Abbott to Call New Special Session for Vote Reform

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced that he will call a special session of the state legislature beginning Saturday. The session will hold a vote on a number of urgent pieces of legislation. This includes the bill aiming to tighten election integrity.

RELATED: State of Texas Will Arrest or Detain Democratic Leaders Who Fled

Special Session Beginning Saturday

Last Thursday, Abbott called members of the Texas Legislature for “an extraordinary session”. The proclamation noted that the session will consider and act on various measures. This includes voter legislation “strengthening the integrity of elections in Texas.”

In addition, it will also discuss legislation on students going back to school. They will consider legislation “providing strategies for public-school education in prekindergarten through twelfth grade during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

It includes measures about providing in-person learning for students who want to go back to classrooms. It will also tackle the issue of mask-wearing and vaccinations. The Texas governors want both measures voluntary in nature and not mandated by the government.

Democrats Still in Washington DC

The Texas Legislature needed another special session, as Texas Democrats left the state during the last session. They did so in order to prevent lawmakers from getting a quorum, which will hold off any voting about the election bill.

The Democrats left Texas “so there would not be enough legislators present for a variety of bills to be passed, including voter integrity laws, bills that would protect girls from having to compete against biological males in sports, fund arrests of illegal aliens, clampdown on abortion, and a crackdown on racist Critical Race Theory being taught in schools.”

In a statement, Abbott said, “The Texas Legislature achieved a great deal during the 87th Legislative Session, and they have a responsibility to finish the work that was started. I will continue to call special session after special session to reform our broken bail system, uphold election integrity, and pass other important items that Texans demand and deserve.”

Democrats Ran Away Instead Of Doing Their Job

Abbott called out the Democratic Party for their behavior. “Isn’t that the most un-Texan thing you’ve ever heard? Are Texans running from a fight? They’re quitters. “It’s like during a football game or baseball game, taking their equipment when they’re way behind and just leaving the field. That is not the way that Texas, Texans do things,” Abbot said at the time. This time, once the Democrats return to Texas, they will need to go to the state House in Austin and do their job. This includes voting on the measures they do not want.

“What the law is — it’s in the Constitution — and that is the House, the State House of Representatives who were here in the Capitol in Austin right now, they do have the ability to issue a call to have their fellow members who are not showing up to be arrested, but only so long as that arrest is made in the state of Texas,” Abbott. “That’s why they have fled the state. Once they step back into the state of Texas, they will be arrested and brought to the Texas Capitol, and we will be conducting business,” he added.

What Will Texas Democrats Do?

While the earlier session which the Democrats abandoned expired, the group faces a dilemma on what to do with Abbott’s new session.

Now, it includes additional measures on top of voting reform. “We accomplished what we set out to do, which is to kill the entire first special session, kill Gov. Abbott’s anti-voter legislation that would make it more difficult for Texans to vote and be able to report on some of the progress we’ve been able to achieve here in Washington with respect to urgently needed federal voting rights legislation,” said State Representative Chris Turner (Grand Prairie).

Turner is also the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “But we’ll look at what the governor has put out there and we’ll continue to consider our next steps but for now, we remain focused on finishing out this first special session,” he said.

Watch the News Today video reporting that some Texas Democrats are determined to stay in DC as Greg Abbott calls a new special session:

Do you think that the Democrats will attend the new special session? Will the voter integrity bill finally make it to a vote?

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