On Friday, Governor Abbott joined a weekly Zoom call hosted by RNC Committeewoman Tonni Anne Dashiell to discuss election integrity.
His remarks were limited (20 - 25 minutes) with a hard stop to “appear on Fox News.”
Outside of making election integrity an emergency item, the introduction by Dashiell for Abbott included back pats for not throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game after the MLB announced a boycott following the passage of Georgia’s election bill.
First, it’s good that Abbott has made election integrity an emergency. Still, the legislature hasn’t taken action in a timely fashion, and there are no indications Abbott has applied pressure or support to have the issue addressed quickly.
As a damning counterexample, Georgia passed as meaningful a bill that’s likely to pass in Texas in 31 days. Our own Texas Senate put a bill dealing with ERCOT overcharges during the 2021 snowstorm through the entire legislative process (in one chamber) in a single day before lunch.
Not acting quickly put Republicans behind the eight ball leading to the ability of lefty groups to create talking points and a public relations campaign to fight omnibus bills from both the Senate (SB7) and House (HB6).
Abbott stated that an emergency item must be passed on the call, and we will stay in session until it is passed. He seems committed to getting a bill passed. If that's the case, attention will need to move to ensure any eventually passed measures are up to snuff.
He praised Attorney General Ken Paxton for continuing to prosecute voter fraud.
To build a case for action on mail-in fraud, Abbott recalled that Obama and Biden had a team of FBI agents deployed to the Valley to pursue claims of fraud, leading to prosecutions.
One of the talking points Abbott is using includes that an Obama-appointed judge opined that voter fraud is prolific in Texas. D.C. vs. Perry “There appears to be agreement that voter fraud actually takes place in abundance in connection with absentee balloting.”
Based on his limited remarks, the shape and scope of what’s eventually “passed” will at the very least include 1) mail-in ballot reforms, 2) codifying voting hours, and 3) barring drive-thru voting.