Democrats in the Texas state legislature fled their state on Monday in avoidance of a special legislative session to pass a common-sense voting reform bill. The legislation would mirror other reforms made by red states, including expansion of access to the ballot box. Consistent with national Democrats, the lawmakers take issue with GOP-backed voter identification proposals that are overwhelmingly popular.
Though the legislators claim "voter suppression" is inevitable, one state representative could not name a single legal voter who would be denied access to the ballot box under the GOP-proposed legislation.
Fox News Primetime host Pete Hegseth pressed Texas Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) for examples of voter suppression.
"Is voting at 2:00 AM in the morning the key issue?" Hegseth asked Talarico on Tuesday night. "I have heard the hyperbole, this is Jim Crow. This is voter suppression, [that] this is a Civil War, from the leadership of your party – Is there currently a single example can you provide me of a registered citizen voter in Texas that can't vote if we're fighting a civil war here?"
Talarico could not point to a real example.
Texas Democrat who fled state can't name any legal voter who would be denied the right to vote under Texas' voter integrity bill pic.twitter.com/qzI8VuRTMM
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 14, 2021
He claimed that Republicans are trying to "rig the rules of the game."
"This is how democracy is supposed to work. The reason this is different, they [GOP majority] are trying to rig the rules of the game."
Voter identification is used to ensure election integrity, and recent polling found that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of voter ID mandates.