Austin capitol filibuster

The move thrust the Senate Democrats into the spotlight. Until now most of the focus has been on House Democrats, who fled the state en masse to block passage of the legislation they decry as voter suppression. As she finished her filibuster, she was surrounded on the floor by other Democratic senators. As the third largest county in America, I am so proud of the way my county conducted our election.

You can make it easy to vote in a safe and secure way. I know VoterSuppression anywhere, is a threat to democracy everywhere. On Wednesday, the House was still short enough members to conduct any business. In the afternoon, the House sergeant-at-arms began delivering civil arrest warrants to 52 fugitive Democrats in an effort to draw them back. None were apprehended. Under the rules of a filibuster, Alvarado could not lean on her desk, eat, drink or use the restroom during the speech.

As she began, Lt. The legislation would block hour and drive-through voting, which were adopted by Harris County last year to boost turnout in the pandemic and proved popular with Black, Latino and Asian voters. It would give poll watchers more freedom to move through a polling place and penalize election officials for denying them entry or blocking their view.

There would also be new requirements for casting ballots by mail , a method used by Texans who are 65 and older, disabled, jailed or out of the county during voting. It's now on its way to the Texas House. But Democrats contend that it would make voting harder, and that it is based on a falsehood that election fraud is widespread. Before Alvarado began her filibuster, the GOP-led Senate gave preliminary approval to the bill Wednesday, after making some changes.

Platt said. And that can lead to flooding in parts of Austin, where the rocky soil cannot absorb much rainwater, and where parts of the city have been built near low-lying, flood-prone creeks, he said.

Extreme Weather and Climate Updates. Rick Perry may immediately call another day special session, adding: "It's over. It's been fun. But see you soon.

Many of the protesters had flocked to the normally quiet Capitol to support Davis, who gained national attention and a mention from President Obama's campaign Twitter account.

Her Twitter following went from 1, in the morning to more than 20, by Tuesday night. I don't have a lot of words left," Davis said when it was over and she was showered with cheers by activists who stayed at the Capitol to see her. Davis' mission was cut short but her effort ultimately helped Democrats earn a rare victory in a Legislature dominated by Republicans for more than a decade.

The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. If signed into law, the measures would have closed almost every abortion clinic in Texas, a state miles wide and miles long with 26 million people. Republican Travis Clardy, who helped negotiate an early version of the voting bill that Democrats first stopped with a walkout in May, said he believes Democrats can be physically brought back to the Capitol.

State Rep. Jim Murphy, who leads the Texas House Republican Caucus, said while he has not seen a situation like this play out during his tenure, his understanding is that officers could go to the missing lawmakers and ask them to come back. The Texas Department of Public Safety, the state's law enforcement agency, referred questions about the warrants to the House speaker. The move marks a new effort by the GOP to end the protest over elections legislation that began a month ago with 50 Democrats taking private jets to Washington in a dramatic show of resolve to make Texas the front lines of a new national battle over voting rights.

The current bill is similar to the ones Democrats blocked last month by going to the nation's capital. Its provisions include a ban on hour polling locations and most drive-thru voting and giving partisan poll watchers more access to polling places. It was unclear Wednesday how many Democrats remained in Washington, where they had hoped to push President Joe Biden and other Democrats there to pass federal legislation that would protect voting rights in Texas and beyond.