DALLAS (NewsNation Now) — Fallout continues from the 2020 election as state lawmakers debate bills that could alter the way we vote.
Pandemic challenges created the need for changes in voting protocols and some lawmakers still question the legitimacy of the outcome.
At February’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), almost four months after Election Day, former President Donald Trump still said unfounded claims of victory.
In an election unlike any other due to a pandemic, states changed rules and new procedures were put in place to make voting safer.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addressed a slew of legislative efforts on Monday to ensure election integrity in Texas.
“It doesn’t matter what party you’re in, doesn’t matter your party affiliation,” said Abbott. “What matters is our collective efforts.”
He criticized Harris County, the most populous county in Texas, to send out 2 million unsolicited mail-in ballots for the 2020 election. Houston is the county seat of Harris County.
“Also in Harris County, election officials created drive-thru voting which is not authorized by law. Texas law does allow curbside voting as an option only for certain voters,” said Abbott.
In Georgia, Republican Lawmakers have introduced more than two dozen bills on election security including ending no-excuse mail-in voting, reducing voting on Sundays and eliminating drop boxes.
Democrat and Former Gubernatorial Candidate Stacey Abrams called the proposals “racist” on CNN Sunday.
“It is a redux of Jim Crowe in a suit and tie. We know that the only thing that precipitated these changes—it’s not that it’s a question of security, in fact, the Secretary of State and the Governor went to great pains to assure America that Georgia’s elections were secure,” said Abrams. “So the only connection we can find is that more people of color voted and it changed the outcome of elections in a direction that Republicans do not like.”
In Arizona, the legal battle over voter fraud in the state’s most populous Maricopa County remains ongoing. With Senate Republicans calling for a full audit of the 2020 election.
Currently, there are more than 200 Republican-led bills in 42 states that critics say would limit ballot access despite courts finding no proof that there was enough election fraud to change the outcome of the election. Republicans claim it’s their attempt to legitimize the process.
Last week, House Democrats passed HR-1, which would be the most sweeping overhaul of election law in history if passed in the Senate.
“HR-1 For The People, for the people, the first 300 pages were written by John Lewis to remove voter suppression tactics from our political system,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The bill faces some challenges in the Senate. President Biden said in a statement he hopes to refine the measure and get it passed into law.
