Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an elections overhaul into law Tuesday that adds more voting restrictions in the booming state, after Democrats spent months protesting what they say are efforts to weaken minority turnout and preserve the GOP’s eroding dominance.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 1 into law. It is slated to go into effect in December

  • The law bans 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting and empowers poll watchers, among other provisions

  • SB1, which earlier caused state Democrats to flee to Washington and break quorum in the Texas House, is already being challenged by at least three federal lawsuits 

  • Republicans say the law is needed in order to maintain public confidence in elections; critics say it unfairly targets voters of color and voters with disabilities 

Abbott signed the sweeping changes during a ceremony in the East Texas city of Tyler, where the surrounding county went for former President Donald Trump by a more than 2-to-1 margin last year. But it was far closer in Texas overall, with Trump carrying the state by 5 1/2 points, the thinnest margin of victory by a GOP presidential nominee here in decades.

The sweeping elections bill bans drive-through voting, empowers poll watchers and sets new rules, with possible criminal penalties, for those who assist voters in casting their ballots.

The bill signing again underlined the hard right turn Texas Republicans made this year, including a new state law that took effect last week banning most abortions. Abbott said he chose Tyler because it was home to the bill’s author, Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes, who also carried the new abortion restrictions.

Already, the rewrite of Texas’ voting laws are the target of at least three federal lawsuits — including another filed Tuesday — and all contend the changes will have a disproportionate impact on minorities. Abbott and other Republicans say it expands access by increasing the minimum number of early voting hours, but the law also puts new restrictions on late-night voting.

“I feel extremely confident that when this law makes it through the litigation phase, it will be upheld,” Abbott said. “Because exactly what we’ve said, it does make it easier for people to be able to go vote. No one who is eligible to vote will be denied the opportunity to vote.”

Texas is among at least 18 states that have enacted new voting restrictions since the 2020 election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The laws are part of a national GOP campaign, including in Florida, Georgia and Arizona, to tighten voting laws in the name of security, partly driven by Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen.

Opponents did not wait for Abbott’s signature to begin filing lawsuits against the new Texas law known as Senate Bill 1. The American Civil Liberties Union, minority rights groups and disability advocates are part of a broad coalition that filed separate lawsuits last week in federal court in Texas, accusing Republican lawmakers of violating the federal Voting Rights Act and intentionally discriminating against minorities.

In a lawsuit filed in San Antonio, the plaintiffs’ legal team argues the legislation “imposes burdens that will discourage, intimidate and deter eligible Texas voters, and will disproportionately impact voters of color and voters with disabilities.”

“Senate Bill 1 will reduce voter participation and discriminate on the basis of race, and for those reasons it should be struck down in court,” Nina Perales, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Vice President of Litigation, said in a statement. “In addition to making voting more difficult for all voters, S.B. 1 is aimed directly at Latinos and Asian Americans with specific provisions that cut back on assistance to limited English-proficient voters.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Abbott defended the new law in a statement saying Senate Bill 1 will “solidify trust and confidence in the outcome of our elections.”

“Texas is making it easier to vote and harder to cheat, by increasing early voting hours, creating more transparency in the election process, securing every ballot, and ensuring uniform statewide rules,” Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze adde

Another lawsuit was filed in federal court Friday in Austin on behalf of organizations including the League of Women Voters of Texas, Workers Defense Action Fund and the Texas Organizing Project.

“People with disabilities, who make up 20 percent of the U.S. population, already face significant barriers to exercising their legal right to vote, such as physically inaccessible polling sites, election workers refusing to provide accommodations, mail-in ballots that cannot be used by people who are blind, and more,” Lia Sifuentes Davis, Senior Litigation Attorney with Disability Rights Texas, said in a statement. “SB1 is a discriminatory bill that creates more unnecessary barriers and silences the voices of Texans with disabilities as well as Texans of color.”