A group of Texas Democratic lawmakers and representatives have set a goal to register 2 million new voters by the midterm elections in 2022.
The effort is called by Project Texas and is a venture by the Texas Democratic Party. Of the unregistered likely Democratic voters in Texas, more than half are Latino, one-fifth are Black and one-fourth are 25 years of age or younger, the party said.
“Getting people engaged at a young age, having them understand your program, understand what you stand for and mean is critical,” Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) said.
Anchia and others believe this project will help when election reform is debated in the legislature. Democrats walked out on the penultimate day of the legislative session to avoid voting on Senate Bill 7, which would limit early voting hours, ban drive-thru voting and make changes to mail-in balloting. An elections bill will come up again in a special session.
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"We recognize that we don't have the numbers to stop the passage of this bill. It takes 76 votes and there are only 67 of us, but those 67 of us are going to do what we can to be able to make whatever improvements that we can make on that bill, and then take whatever stands that are necessary to take against the bill,” Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston ) said.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who made the issue a priority, said he believes it will eventually pass.
“All it takes is a majority vote and, I think the Republicans will agree to support it in both the Texas House and Texas Senate," he said. "I know that there will be efforts to try to accommodate some of the demands, but also I know this, and that is that election integrity is needed."
Lone Star Politics
Covering politics throughout the state of Texas.
And with 2022 coming up, Republican Party chairman Allen West, who will leave the post at the end of July, talked about the GOP’s strategy.
“We are going to continue to register people because I think they want to be part of a winning message. They want to be part of a message that Texas enables people. The growth, the opportunity the prosperity," he said.
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