5/30/21 Biden to Texas: "That Voting Bill is Un-American"

“Today, Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote. It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday.

The latest injury to democracy is the voting bill in process in the Texas legislature. It cuts back on early voting hours, 24-hour voting, several local voting options -- during the last election, Houstonians could vote at drive-in booths -- and cut back drastically on ballot drop boxes. In 2016, Governor Greg Abbott forced the entire city of Houston to drop off mail-in ballots at a single drop box. The alternative was to mail in ballots in the face of a dramatic post-office slowdown.

The bill, Biden said, is “wrong and un-American. In the 21st century, we should be making it easier, not harder, for every eligible voter to vote.”

It's hard to find a state more right-wing than Texas -- or more politically corrupt. Ever since SCOTUS took the brakes off voter discrimination laws in 2013, obstacles for black, brown, and poor voters have multiplied in practically all levels of government.

There seems to be retaliation against Democrats, too. You know something's not right when the biggest blue bauble in the state, Houston, has close to 50 of the 200 deaths that occurred during the Big Freeze in February, and homeowners who survived had to pay huge bills for overpriced power that seemed to be from opportunistic pricing by the power companies.

You know something's not right when Republicans try to recruit other Republicans to be "observers" at the polls. You'll recall that for more than 30 years ending in 2018, Republicans were under a federal consent decree because of the party's tendency to bully voters by challenging their qualifications, and other such measures. It looks as though Red Texas, at least, is happily going back to vintage form.

Red Texas wants power -- democracy be damned.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/556104-biden-blasts-texas-voting-bill-an-assault-on-democracy?fbclid=IwAR3n_RIBKeGGQ_yPBqgacgBpX2pIPlp14iMb0W925fBb28KdhO78B2tgKik