Big win for Texas Democrats
We’ve seen a familiar pattern with the GOP whenever they suffer an embarrassing defeat: they rewrite the rules so whatever just happened, won’t happen again. This is why we’re seeing rampant voter suppression across the US, with some of the most dramatic battles to secure voting rights playing out in Texas and Georgia, the former helping to deliver Joe Biden the presidency and Democrats the Senate majority.
The good news is that Democrats aren’t sitting by while it happens. After a number of companies, including Major League Baseball decided to relocate their businesses elsewhere to protest the draconian voting laws in Georgia, Texas Democrats fled the state to prevent Gov. Abbott from passing new voting restrictions. In previous weeks, they were able to get some of the most anti-democratic clauses struck from the new bill, but on Monday, they scored another major win for the state: Voters will be able to register to vote online once they renew their drivers’ licenses.
The victory came after the DCCC and DSCC joined the Texas Democratic Party in a lawsuit against the state for not complying with the National Voter Registration Act. The lawsuit forced a temporary fix that led to one million new voters registering online and their protections are now permanent. Of course, this is hardly an alternative to passing new federal voting rights legislation, but it sets an important precedent that will certainly make things harder for Republicans to keep fighting this war in their home states. It’s clear that our efforts are working – keep at it and register as many people as you can to vote in 2022.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making