Texas Senate Bill 1 Restricts Voting with Provisions Targeting Harris County

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 on September 7, 2021, enacting sweeping voting restrictions including: banning 24-hour voting and drive-through voting (both used in Harris County, which has a large Black and Latino population); prohibiting distribution of unsolicited mail ballot applications; empowering partisan poll watchers; making it harder to assist voters with limited English; and adding ID requirements for mail ballots. Democrats twice fled the state to deny quorum and block the bill. After the third special session, it passed. Federal suits argued the provisions disproportionately impacted Black and Latino voters.