The Texas state Senate passed Senate Bill 1, an election overhaul bill that would add new restrictions and criminal penalties to the voting process, Thursday morning on a 18-11 party line vote.
The final vote was taken fewer than 20 minutes after a 15-hour filibuster of the bill from state Sen. Carol Alvarado concluded. Alvarado, wearing a back brace for support and using a catheter, spoke on the bill for 15 hours and four minutes on her feet without sitting, leaning, eating, drinking or using the restroom — in accordance with Texas rules. The Houston Democrat concluded her filibuster, surrounded by several of her colleagues who took turns asking questions throughout the night, on the Texas Senate floor just before 9 a.m. CT. The bill will next head to the House, where Democrats have delayed its passage by vacating the Capitol, though its eventual passage in the Republican-led legislature is virtually assured. The filibuster itself was mostly symbolic, as there are more than 20 days that remain in the second special session. Alvarado acknowledged on the floor that she would not be able to stop the bill but told the Texas Tribune she wanted to “call attention to what is at stake”. “Senate Bill 1 slowly but surely chips away at our democracy. It adds rather than removes barriers for Texas seniors, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Asian and Latino voters from the political process,” said Alvarado during her filibuster. “Senate Bill 1 is a regressive step back in the direction of that dark and painful history.” Republican Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes, the bill’s sponsor, has repeatedly said SB1 would make it “easier to vote, harder to cheat.
