Some Texas Democrats Staying in Washington DC to Protest GOP Elections Bill - Dallas Observer

Dallas state Rep. Jasmine Crockett is more than 1,500 miles away from work, but that doesn’t mean she’s playing hooky.

In July, Crockett and dozens of her Democratic colleagues left the state for Washington D.C. to block the passage of a GOP-backed elections bill. Yet while some have begun trickling back to report at the state Capitol, she’s one of the few who refuses to return.

The way Crockett sees it, Texas Republicans are dead set on passing legislation that would restrict access to the ballot box, especially for voters of color. Some have argued that Democrats who don’t like the legislation should do something to change it, but Crockett believes that the Republican majority wouldn’t have listened anyway.

“What am I going to do at the Texas Capitol except for provide my body for the purpose of being rolled over?” she said. “They only needed our bodies; they didn’t want our brains. They didn’t want to engage in what I would consider to be actual statesmanship.”

Republicans insist the controversial bill will make it easier to vote and harder to cheat, arguing it’s necessary to prevent voter fraud. Democrats, on the other hand, say it’s a transparent effort to retain the decades-long GOP foothold in an increasingly diverse state.

With the bill now on track to reach Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, some Democratic state lawmakers are counting on Congress to intervene.

But it’s not just Democrats who are concerned about the bill.

After the Texas House advanced the......



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