With just a few weeks left of the Texas legislative session, lawmakers are doubling down on bills that could make these stories more frequent. House Bill 1243 and Senate Bill 2, bills that would increase the penalty for illegal voting from a Class A misdemeanor to a second degree felony, are currently moving quickly through House and Senate chambers. Just two years ago, in efforts to successfully pass Senate Bill 1, the state’s omnibus voter suppression law, the penalty for illegal voting was lowered to a misdemeanor as opponents to S.B. 1 argued that the punishment did not fit the crime as the bill targeted well-meaning people who made an honest mistake.

Over recent years, Republicans in Texas have led the charge to crackdown on alleged voter fraud while touting unfounded claims of rampant illegal voting. In the two years since lowering the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor, we have not seen a surge in illegal voting across Texas. There’s absolutely no evidence to suggest that voter fraud is a widespread problem both in Texas and across the country. Regardless, statewide Republican officials are targeting Black and Brown voters under the guise of alleged illegal voting. In the cases of Crystal Mason and Hervis Rogers, they did not know that once released from prison they could not vote. Knowing one’s probation or parole status is not synonymous with knowing complex election code that fails to clearly state when their ability to vote is restored. ....

The Republican Party’s push to make illegal voting a felony is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to suppress the votes of people of color. By criminalizing what are often minor or unintentional mistakes in the voting process, these bills work to only intimidate and disenfranchise voters, particularly those from marginalized communities. During the House floor debate, both Reps. Sheryl Cole (D) and Christian Manual (D) testified with statistics and studies proving that allegations of illegal voting effectively and disproportionately target Black and Brown communities.

Despite the attempts of Republican officials to argue that the bills don’t see race nor color, the data shows otherwise. Analysis completed by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that “based on public records, court filings, media reports and assumptions based on common Hispanic surnames, at least 72 percent of all the election fraud cases have been brought against Black and Latino defendants.” It’s worth noting, statewide officials are also only targeting enforcement in diverse counties, such as Harris County, home to Houston, and Tarrant County, a suburb of Dallas.