Texas’ House of Representatives on Thursday advanced a bill restricting voting access, more than six weeks after Democratic lawmakers fled the state in an effort to deny the legislature the quorum needed to approve the Republican-backed measure, Reuters reports. The House resumed business on Aug. 19 after three of the absentee Democrats returned to the statehouse, saying they had successfully brought national attention to the Texas bill and galvanized U.S. lawmakers to move forward on federal voting rights legislation. Thursday’s vote moving the bill forward followed hours of fiery debate, but its outcome was widely expected because the state legislature is dominated by a Republican majority. The bill, approved 79-37 mostly along party lines, will now proceed to a final vote in the Texas House on Friday. It is widely expected to pass there and in the Senate, clearing the way for Republican Governor Greg Abbott to sign it into law.
