NEW: Texas Democrats to flee state in effort to block GOP-backed voting restrictions. The Texas lawmakers will head to DC, risking arrest by leaving the state during the special legislative session.
July 12, 2021, 4:42 PM UTCWith Republican-backed voting bills moving rapidly through a special session of the state Legislature, Texas Democrats are planning to make a break for it — again.
The majority of the members plan to fly to Washington, D.C., on two private jets chartered for the occasion and use the time there to rally support for federal voting legislation, the source said. Others will make their own way. House Democrats already staged one successful walkout to defeat election legislation prioritized by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Members quietly left the House floor in the final minutes of the regular legislative session that ended in May, breaking quorum and forcing Republicans to adjourn without passing the key agenda item. But that victory was always likely to be short-lived, as Republicans control both legislative chambers. Abbott kept his vow to call a special session, which began July 8.
Both bills would add new identification requirements for mail voting, ban some early voting options and create new criminal penalties for breaking election code while empowering partisan poll watchers.
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