Texas Senate Passes Law to Restrict Voting Despite Democratic Opposition

The Texas Congress passed a legislative proposal that seeks to radically restructure the state's electoral laws.

The measure will be sent to the governor's office, Greg Abbott, on Tuesday for his signature, which is a tough defeat for Democrats after staunchly opposing it to be voted on.

Abbott had already assured that it will sign it

, which could happen in the next few days.

The partisan clashes over the controversial law that according to the Democrats will restrict the vote of minorities in the state continued to take place until the last day of their vote.

At the last minute, Republican senators from Texas decided to remove one of the few provisions on which there was bipartisan consensus: a clause that protected citizens convicted of felonies from prosecution if they voted wrongly;

that is, without knowing that they were not eligible to vote.

The Texas Capitol in Austin, in a March 14, 2017 file photo.Brian Snyder / Reuters

The law will also ban 24-hour voting centers, make it a crime for officials to send a ballot by mail to someone who has not requested it, and empower partisan observers.

Republicans argue that the law strengthens election security and prevents fraud, although they have denied that this new concern is due to the unsubstantiated accusations of former President Donald Trump, who claims without any proof that Democrats stole the presidential election when he lost to Joe Biden last November.

Texas Democrats vehemently opposed the bill

.

They allege that the real objective is to stop the advance of their party in the maximum Republican stronghold, after important victories in an electorate that has become more diverse and urban.

At the end of May, a group of more than 50 legislators decided to leave the state to go to Washington DC in protest at the discussion of the law, depriving the state House of Representatives of the necessary capacity to vote.

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Republicans reacted by threatening to arrest them,

and Abbott froze the pay of nearly 2,000 state congressional employees to force lawmakers to sit again.

Following pressure against them, Democrats decided to return to the House of Representatives earlier this month.

Democratic Rep. Garnet Coleman, who returned to the Capitol in August, said it was an emotional issue for him, as he did not want to vote on a law that was designed to "cause difficulties for people because of their skin color and ethnicity." , a class of people that he claimed to be a part of.

With information from The Associated Press.