The mainstream media and advocacy groups have erroneously characterized the new Texas election reform law as one that restricts voting access, says Hans van Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 1 into law Tuesday after enough Democratic House members, who earlier staged a walkout over the bill, showed up for session to constitute a quorum.
Von Spakovsky notes that that The New York Times went so far as to write that Texas is one of the “most difficult places” in the United States to cast a vote.
He said that assertion is “factually, simply wrong.”
An inspection of the provisions of the new law shows that it secures registration and voting practices and, in some instances, expands access to the voting booth, he argued.
One provision, von Spakovsky writes, requires registrars who receive notice from a voter who has moved to forward that notice to the registrar of the county where the voter relocated.
“Opponents, like the American Civil Liberties Union, apparently don’t want registrars to keep accurate and up-to-date lists, which is why they keep suing to stop states from trying to clean up their voter lists,” he wrote.
Another provision that protects voter privacy requires the Texas secretary of state to enact regulations that bans election officials (those reviewing early ballots or signature verification on absentee ballots) “from retaining or sharing personally identifiable information [on voters] from the statewide computerized voter registration list … for any reason unrelated to the official’s” duties.
“Most voters across Texas are probably happy that Texas legislators are trying to ‘restrict’ the misuse of their personal data,” van Spakovsky wrote.
Another provision expands voting access by allowing all those waiting in line to vote to cast their ballots even after the polls close.
The new law also extends the state’s in-person voter ID requirement to absentee ballots. Polls have shown that a substantial majority of voters support voter ID and other security measures that Texas and other states have adopted.
Texas, which backed former President Donald Trump's re-election bid in 2020, reported no instances of major voter fraud during the November vote.