Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has promised to arrest Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an attempt to stop voting on legislation that they say infringes on the right to vote, especially for ethnic communities.
Private jets carrying more than 50 Democrats flew from Austin to Washington, D.C., on Monday — leaving the city just days before the Texas House of Representatives was expected to approve new voting restrictions during a special legislative session.
This step deprived the Republican-led legislature of a quorum, as a result of which too few people were present to vote.
In response, Abbott told a TV station in Austin that he would simply continue to convene special sessions of the legislature over the next year, if necessary, and raised the possibility of arresting Democrats upon returning home.
«As soon as they return to the state of Texas, they will be arrested and locked up in the Texas Capitol until they do their job,» Abbott said.
The proposed bills, among other things, would make round-the-clock polling stations illegal and would expand the capabilities of election observers. According to Democratic lawmakers, the new rules would complicate the voting process for young people, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
