Can these 5 bills to expand voting access in Texas win bipartisan support in the Legislature?

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Republican lawmakers in Texas are signaling this year that they will continue pushing for restrictions on voting in the name of combating voter fraud, including ending countywide voting and requiring proof of citizenship to register.

But some efforts to expand voting access — including legislation that has come up in past legislative sessions — could gain bipartisan support, some policy experts say.

Bills that would expand the acceptable forms of ID voters can present at the polls and one that expands mail-voting access for people with disabilities, among others, have a chance to move forward, said Daniel Griffith, senior director of policy at the Secure Democracy Foundation, a nonprofit research group.

They’re not sure bets to become law, of course. The Republican-dominated Legislature since 2020 has consistently tightened voting laws and changed how elections are administered. And some of the bills introduced this year are the same ones that have stalled or failed in the past.

But every time one of those bills returns, even if it doesn’t get far, important work gets done behind the scenes — educating lawmakers and raising public awareness — to focus attention on the issues affecting voters, said Emily Eby French, policy director at Common Cause Texas.

“Even if the chances for pro-voter bills to move forward are slim, it’s still important to get the conversation going,” French said, adding that strong groundwork can help get such legislation over the finish line.

This year’s legislative session is set to begin Jan. 14. Here are some of the bills under consideration that could improve voter access:

Allowing online voter registration

Texas is one of only eight states in the country without online voter registration. It still uses a clumsy, paper-based system that has disenfranchised some eligible voters, an 2024 investigation by Votebeat found.

For more than a decade, Democratic state lawmakers have proposed legislation to allow online registration, and some Republican legislators have supported it. But the last time such a bill got a committee hearing was in 2015.

This session, at least three Democratic state representatives — John Bucy from Austin, Penny Morales Shaw from Houston, and Terry Meza from Irving — have filed bills that would allow Texans to register to vote online. In the state Senate, Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Democrat from Houston, also filed a bill.

The bills require anyone using online registration to have a valid Texas-issued driver’s license or state ID. Similar laws have been enacted in Alabama, Kentucky, and Arizona.

Experts say the measure could save Texans millions of dollars and increase election security by improving the accuracy of the state’s voter rolls.

Extending vote-by-mail access for people with disabilities 

Advocates have been pushing for years for a bill that would expand vote-by-mail access for voters with disabilities. It passed with bipartisan support last session, but Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed it.

At least two similar versions of the bill have been reintroduced this session, by Bucy and Meza.

Chase Bearden, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, said he has been talking with Republican senators and state representatives, and “I do think we can work on a bipartisan solution that will work.”

The bill that Abbott vetoed would have allowed voters who need help casting a ballot, such as people who are visually impaired or are paralyzed, to do so “privately and securely” by requesting an electronic ballot and using a computer to mark their choices. The bill still would have required those voters to print out, sign, and return their ballots by mail. A similar tool is already available for overseas and military voters.

In a resolution explaining the veto, Abbott said the intent of the bill was “laudable,” but he believed it would allow “any voter who qualifies to vote by mail to receive a ballot electronically” without limiting it to disabled voters.

Accepting more forms of voter ID

Under current Texas’ voter ID requirement — modified after a federal court ruling that found the original 2011 law discriminatory — voters must show one of seven types of government-issued photo ID to vote, such as a state driver’s license, a passport, or a concealed-carry handgun license. Voters who don’t have and cannot reasonably obtain one of those seven types can fill out a form at the polls and show an alternative form of ID, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check, or a voter registration certificate.

Democrats, who count young voters as a key constituency, have for years filed proposals to expand the list to include photo IDs issued by Texas colleges and universities. And they’re doing it again this session.

Bucy filed a bill that would require election workers to accept a photo ID issued by a federally recognized tribe in Texas, an in-state college or university student photo ID, or a photo ID issued by a Texas state agency.

State Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Driftwood Democrat, filed a bill that details criteria for an acceptable student ID: The card would have to be unexpired, or no more than four years past expiration, and include the voter's photograph, date of birth, and full legal name.

Restoring voting rights for Texans with felony convictions

Texans who have been convicted of a felony are not eligible to cast a ballot, until they have completed their sentence, including parole, supervision, and probation.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a Democrat from Austin, would restore voting rights of people with a felony conviction upon their release from incarceration. In addition, a bill by Bucy would require the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to work with the Department of Criminal Justice and the Department of Public Safety to make it easier for Texans with felony convictions to learn when their voting rights are restored and how they can register to vote.

The time gap between when a person is released from incarceration and when they’ve satisfied other conditions of their sentence was a key issue in a 2016 illegal-voting case in Tarrant County that drew national attention. Crystal Mason was sentenced to five years in prison for casting a provisional ballot while on supervised release from a federal conviction. She later said she did not know she was ineligible to vote. Election safeguards prevented the vote from being counted.

Mason’s illegal-voting conviction was overturned last year, but she’s now fighting an effort by prosecutors to reverse that decision.

Removing some restrictions for voters who have moved

Under current law, people who miss the voter registration deadline, or registered voters who move to a different county after the deadline face some restrictions on voting.

They’re allowed to cast a limited ballot — with only statewide and federal races, depending on the election — and only during the early-voting period, at the main early-voting location. That location is typically the elections department headquarters or the county courthouse.

However, on election day, such voters can only cast a provisional ballot, or return to their former precinct to vote. If they cast a provisional ballot in the new location, it typically does not get counted, because the voter was not registered there.

A bill filed by Bucy would allow registered Texas voters who have moved but have yet to update their voter registration to cast a provisional ballot either during early voting or on election day. The provisional ballot would be counted once election officials check the voter’s eligibility and determine that the voter has not already voted in the election.

Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She is based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.

Disclosure: Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, Common Cause, Secure Democracy and Texas Secretary of State have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.