Opinion

ROOKE: Even In Border State, Republicans Fail To Protect Elections From Illegal Immigrants

OPINION
Democratic Legislators Flee Texas To Stop Votes In Current Special Session

(Photo by Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
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A Republican-led Texas state House of Representatives failed to pass a state Constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote.

Despite the narrative declaring the opposite, election integrity is a relatively easy issue to tackle, and it begins with ensuring that the only people voting are eligible citizens.

There is no denying that Texas is on the front lines of illegal immigration. President Biden has left the southern border open, allowing hoards of illegal immigrants to enter. Instead of stopping the invasion, the Biden Administration is actively fighting any efforts by the Texas government to secure their territory from the influx of unvetted people streaming into their state.

On Super Tuesday, over 96% of Republican primary voters supported Proposition 12, which would signal to the Texas legislature to pass a Constitutional amendment requiring proof of citizenship to vote. Republican state Rep. Brian  Harrison told the Daily Caller that GOP voters would be “outraged” to learn that the Texas House, under Republican Speaker Dade Phelan’s leadership, “killed this election integrity priority as they killed every single other election integrity priority last session.”

Harrison refers to the vote on SJR35 in the 88th Legislature, which would have amended the Texas Constitution to include only allowing U.S. citizens the right to vote. (ROOKE: Democrats Are Already Cooking Up New Election Law Shenanigans For 2024)

SJR35 passed the Texas state Senate on a 21-9-1 vote. All the Senate Republicans, plus two Democrats, voted for the new requirement. Nine Democrats voted against it, and only one absentee vote was recorded.

The story in the Texas House was much different. Harrison told the Daily Caller that Speaker Phelan did not prioritize the citizenship requirement despite election integrity being a top issue for Republican voters.

The amendment failed because of a procedural issue, meaning it didn’t have enough aye or nay votes to qualify for passage. Two Republicans, including Phelan, and five Democrats were recorded as absent, and 54 Democrats voted present.

Allowing an absent or present vote to be recorded lowers the number of members required for the bill to be adopted, and it failed. It’s a cheap parliamentary trick used to kill bills without having to vote nay.

“What happened here is a very common tale,” Harrison told the Daily Caller. “The Texas Senate passed a Republican priority to make it so that to vote, you can only be a US citizen. It came over to the Texas house. And Dade Phelan, not just him but also his leadership team, did not work to pass it.” (ROOKE: Biden’s Border Crisis Exposed America’s Dirty Foreign Agent Secret)

 

“In fact, Dade Phelan allowed multiple people from his hand-selected committee chairmen not to support it. If Dade Phelan and his leadership team wanted this to pass in the House, it would have passed in the House,” he added.  “To be very clear, it’s not just Dade. There are a lot of people on his leadership team who want to scapegoat him now that he’s in trouble in his primary. It’s very important that people understand that Dade Phelan only did what he did with the full support of his liberal leadership team.”

Harrison said that on the day the Texas House considered SJ35, most of Phelan’s leadership team, which included Democrats, were on the floor for the vote. He blamed Phelan for the bill’s failure, saying he should have prioritized this because it was an election integrity issue.

“If it had been important to the speaker, as it should be, he should have voted for it. He, countless times throughout the session, when there was something of consequence, would say from the dais, show the speaker voting aye. For example, he voted on the Paxton impeachment. He could have voted for this,” Harrison said.

He called Phelan’s absentee vote proof the Texas Speaker did not “demonstrate leadership to protect election integrity,” adding that it was an “indefensible” move at a time when illegal immigration is running rampant in the state. (ROOKE: If It’s Really A ‘Right Wing Conspiracy Theory,’ Why Do Democrats Keep Proving It’s Real?)

“At a moment when our state and nation are being invaded [by illegal immigrants], and the democrats plan to turn them all into voters, the Texas House killed a constitutional amendment to require you to be a citizen to vote. It’s outrageous,” Harrison told the Daily Caller. “This is just another example of how the so-called Republican leadership team in the Texas House betrayed their voters and the next generation.”

Strategic Political Management, a Dallas-based Texas group that supported SJR35 and is working to pass similar bills in other states, told the Daily Caller that the bill’s failure was a massive disappointment in the 88th session. The group plans to make this a critical issue in the 2024 general election.

“When I saw members of the Texas House of Representatives casting ‘present’ votes on the Citizen’s Only Voting Amendment, it was like a silent storm in the heart of democracy,” Charlie Kolean, a partner at Strategic Political Management, told the Daily Caller. “Each ‘present’ vote was a thunderous silence, a gap where conviction should have stood. But this isn’t the end; it’s a call to action. Our organization is mobilizing for the 2024 election in Texas, ready to champion those who stand with us and remind voters of where their representatives stand in this critical moment. Voting present is unacceptable.”

Dade Phelan did not respond to the Daily Caller’s multiple requests that he explain his absent vote for SJR35.