Over Holiday Weekend, Greg Abbott Quietly Vetoes Bill to Expand Voting Access to Texans with Disabilities
Over the Holiday Weekend Gov. Abbott was on a veto spree. One that really stands out is the veto of the bill to expand voting access to Texans with disabilities. Even though Gov. Abbott is in a wheelchair himself he is showing no signs of caring about other disabled Texans who don’t have servants around 24/7.
The Texas Democrats released the following:
In case you missed it, over the holiday weekend, Greg Abbott quietly vetoed a bill that would have expanded voting access to Texans with disabilities, marking the latest effort in Abbott’s assault on fundamental voting rights in Texas.
House Bill (H.B.) 3159 would have allowed Texans who are eligible to vote by mail on the grounds of disability – or confinement for childbirth – to receive and cast a ballot using an accessible electronic absentee mail system approved by the Secretary of State.
The voter would have been able to make their selections electronically, and then print out a ballot and mail it in – meaning their vote would still be done on paper and received by the county elections office by mail (not electronically).
“Greg Abbott will stop at nothing – no matter what – to deny as many Texans as possible the ability to express their basic right to vote,” said Jessica Anacker, President of Texas Democrats with Disabilities. “I hear all the time about how polling locations are not accessible, or that folks with disabilities can’t get the needed assistance at the polling locations. If Greg Abbott truly cared about the lives of Texans, then he would work to protect the right to vote. This is not what freedom and democracy is. No eligible Texan – no matter their party – should be denied the right to vote because of a disability or pregnancy.”
