Protecting Voting Rights and Encouraging Voter Engagement

Voting is the lifeblood of democracy, ensuring that the government remains responsive to the demands and needs of its citizens and respects their liberties.  Democracy works best when all eligible voters can participate. Throughout its history, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has worked to expand voting rights, drive voter turnout, educate on the issues and encourage voter engagement.  We pursued the expansion of voting rights for historically disenfranchised communities during the suffrage movement, campaigned for the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 and championed the effort to change the voting age to 18.  Our work continues today with the goal of ensuring that every eligible voter is able to register to vote, cast a ballot, and engage in all levels of government in a meaningful way.  Unfortunately, in the past five years, policies to disenfranchise voters have increased and become more insidious. The Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013 removed a key provision of the VRA, weakening a half-century of voter protection efforts.  NCJW, at the local, state and federal level, has responded by renewing its efforts to protect voting rights.  NCJW members and supporters in Texas have joined forces to protect and enhance voting rights within our state.

We urge the Legislature to support passage of bills that:

• Ensure impartial treatment of all voters
• Allow same day voter registration and an opportunity for 16 and 17 year olds to pre-register to vote
• Enable and enhance electronic voter registration to: improve voter system security, make voter rolls more accurate, and save millions of dollars caused by paper registration.
• Allow for automatic voter registration when voters come into contact with a government agency. AVR has been approved in 13 states.
• Maximize use of uniform election dates, efficiently share polling locations
• Provide for improved voting equipment and systems, including paper audit trail equipment, where voters can verify their selections before casting their ballot
• Increase cyber security and train election officials in the use of cyber security
• Offer more clearly stated and easier to read election forms
• Improve the time periods and mechanisms for requesting ballots by mail and the return ballot

We urge the Legislature to actively oppose:

• Bills that result in voter suppression
• Discriminatory voter photo ID laws (Perhaps the most popular measures to block access to voting are voter ID laws).
• Last minute efforts to create barriers to voting on Election Day
• Declaration of party affiliation when registering
• The appointment of David Whitley as Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is tasked with implementing federal and state election law. In January, Secretary Whitley released a flawed and inaccurate voter purge list to Texas counties, despite knowing that thousands of eligible voters might be on the list.  When done properly, maintaining and updating voter rolls are key to election integrity.  However, too often voter purges are used to block voters from the ballot without adequate cause.
• Bills that would codify the Secretary of State’s right (see above) to purge lists.

While there are many improvements to be made, we encourage the continuance of the following model laws: Texas is a leader in returning suffrage to citizens who have been in the criminal justice system and fulfilled their punishment. Our early voting period, including weekends, provides opportunities to all unable to vote on Election Day.  Both of these laws should be celebrated and maintained.

We urge the House Redistricting Committee Chair, Phil King (R-Parker/Wise Counties), and Vice Chair, Chris Turner (D-Tarrant County), to continue to hold public hearings.  Gerrymandering (the drawing of political districts for the benefit of a particular party) is a threat to voting rights because it results in polarization of our citizenry and prevents communities from working together.  Districts are drawn at the state level after every 10 years based on the census.  Some states have impartial redistricting commissions, while others, like Texas, leave it to the legislature.  Last session, the House Redistricting Committee never met, which meant that Texans were not able to voice their concerns about our broken redistricting system.  The appointment this year of a bi-partisan sub-committee to schedule hearings around the state is a good start.  We believe that:

• Partisan data should not be permitted when drawing our election maps
• Cities, counties and school districts should not be split unless absolutely necessary
• Districts should be drawn based on input from the community

We Urge the Legislature to:

• SUPPORT HB 79 (Johnson) which would provide for online voter registration, available in 37 states.
• SUPPORT HB 361 (Israel, Zerwas and Wilson) This bill creates an online voter registration system. Has 60+ sponsors.
• OPPOSE HB 378 (Lang) would make it more difficult to register to vote. If passed, this bill would require proof of citizenship to register.  
• OPPOSE SB9 (Hughes) This bill makes it more difficult to vote and perpetuates misconceptions and fear about election safety. The bill would impose substantial unnecessary new barriers on those needing assistance to vote, particularly elderly & disabled voters. It would loosen safeguards protecting voters’ private information making voter purges such as the illegitimate one recently attempted by Secretary of State Whitley easier. It would bolster an ongoing campaign of selective criminal prosecutions aimed at deterring people from voting, particularly those from marginalized communities.
• OPPOSE SB 74 (Hall) would slash early voting days by 7 (including weekends) making polls less accessible.   
• OPPOSE SB 953 (Fallon) and SB960 (Bettencourt/Perry) These bills together would require voter registrars to immediately remove every person who at any one point indicated to a government agency that they were not a citizen and would subject any registrar who doesn’t comply with immediate removal to a civil penalty and possible Class A misdemeanor
• OPPOSE HB 154 (Swanson) would require a voter using a non-photo ID to submit to being photographed by an election official. Would also authorize election officials to take a photo if they suspect an ID is fake.