The most important vote of the 89th Legislative Session has now been taken and the citizens of Texas who overwhelmingly chose Republican leadership lost. Once again Democrats and a small group of Republicans have chosen the Texas Speaker of the House. Texans must prepare themselves for the negative consequences for election integrity legislation, but they should not lose hope.
Representative, now Speaker, Dustin Burrows secured votes from 36 Republicans and 49 Democrats. The Representative chosen by the Republican Caucus, David Cook, received 55 votes, 52 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Nine Democrats abstained from voting.
So what does this mean for election integrity? A Speaker elected by and beholden to the Democrats in the House will be less likely to champion the election integrity priorities of the Republican Party. The formula has been the same for years. One good piece of legislation resembling a Republican priority bill will be chosen to make it through, but it will come out weaker than was intended. A few small reforms that fly under the radar will sneak by, but that will be all that makes it through to the Governor. Large, sweeping, and much needed reforms will be passed out of the Senate only to die in the House.
Then, after the session, the Speaker and his supporters will say it was so unfortunate that they ran out of time to pass the rest of the priority bills, while they declare they saved our elections with the few bills that did pass.
It does not have to be this way, though. Texans should not lose all hope. First of all, we have some great election integrity champions in the Texas Senate including Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Patrick released a statement after the vote saying he is counting on Speaker Burrows to deliver on his promises to pass bills that previously failed in the House including “Multiple election integrity bills, to protect our sacred democracy.”
Lt. Gov. Patrick controls the Senate and could use his power strategically to get priority legislation passed through the House. Remember, House bills have to make it through the Senate to become law, not just the other way around. Texans could see a lot of gamesmanship between the chambers this session.
Citizens can also engage the Representatives who supported the Speaker and challenge them to carry election integrity legislation. If they voted for Burrows to gain power and influence, they should be able to wield it to pass legislation for the election integrity priorities they claim to support. This is especially effective if you are a constituent of that Representative.
There are more options that Texans have available to get meaningful legislation passed, but it is often not advantageous to broadcast them beforehand. To learn more about legislation as it moves, or does not move, through the House and Senate and to learn how to engage in the legislative session, join the Texas Election Coalition. Most importantly, do not give up. This will be an uphill battle, but there is a path to victory.