The Texas Public Policy Foundation praised the passage of legislation to protect Texas elections and released the following statement from senior fellow Chad Ennis:
The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds the Conference Committee Committee Chairs Rep. Briscoe Cain and Sen. Bryan Hughes along with Members Rep. Travis Clardy, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of SB 7 for their release today of a strong report and legislative package that reconciles the House and Senate bills and includes several strong measures to restore Texan’s trust in their election.
Most importantly SB 7 now includes the vital protection of including an ID requirement for a ballot voted by mail. Along with strong language defining ballot harvesting, penalties for those who seek to game the system and ensuring the state will have accurate voter lists the policy package embodies much hard work and is to be commended. The House and Senate will now vote on the bill this weekend prior to Sine Die on Monday, May 31st.
“SB 7 stands as the most important legislative action taken this session” said TPPF CEO Kevin Roberts “Coupled with other bills that prevent outside private dollar influence on our most sacred institution, we have a bulwark against the unease, and fraud that have plagued voter trust and will ensure voting is safe and easy, but hard to cheat.”
Vice President of National Initiatives Chuck DeVore added “Making election administration consistent and accurate from El Paso to Houston and using the same standards for mail in ballots as in person voting will ensure that the issues we have experienced in the past are minimized. These changes will protect the votes and voices of all Texans and ensure election policy remains color blind, that their vote is counted fairly, and they believe in the results.”