House Bill 39, introduced by Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, would bump the penalty for election fraud from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
In 2021, Abbott called for stiffer penalties for illegal voting — less than a month after he signed a bill that lowered penalties. Phelan, in response, said it was not an appropriate time “to re-litigate” the legislation known as Senate Bill 1.
The bill filed Monday would amend existing voting law. Some offenses include causing “any false or intentionally misleading statement, representation, or information to be provided to an election official” and causing “the ballot not to reflect the intent of the voter.”
Similar legislation, House Bill 397, House Bill 222 and House Bill 52, would increase penalties for illegal voting to a second-degree felony. These bills are filed by Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth; Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City; and Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, respectively.
Senate Bill 118, filed by Sens. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, and Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, would require counties to put polling sites on university and college campuses with at least 5,000 students. While the proposal is similar to what Menéndez introduced in 2019 and 2021, this year’s bill goes further by mandating at least two voting locations on campuses with 10,000 students, plus one extra site for every additional 10,000 students.
The lack of on-campus polling locations is a big barrier to youth voter turnout in Texas, on top of strict voting laws. In the recent midterms cycle, 50% of the state’s 36 public universities had on-campus early-voting sites, while only around 20% of the nine historically Black colleges and universities did. — Sneha Dey and Alex Nguyen
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest For News Update Click Here
