Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s slow action on election integrity is a stark reminder of his hesitation to do the right thing when it is needed most. While Georgia, Florida, and Iowa enacted bills to restore some election integrity, Texas was slow to action. As Texas inches closer and closer to becoming a battleground state, the need for fair elections is clearer than ever.
After dithering for a month, Gov. Abbott finally called for a special session of the Texas legislature, but even in doing that he was slow in designating issues for the special session. Democrat legislators definitely deserve a good share of the blame for fleeing to Washington, D.C. rather than facing the music of the Texas special session, but Abbott does not get a pass on this either.
In its final decision of its Term, the Supreme Court gave states the green light to reduce election fraud by reining in lax voting procedures. Justice Alito, writing for the 6-3 Court, firmly rejected a common liberal argument against voting procedure changes.
“Disparate impact” is a Leftist test for invalidating any law that might arguably have a greater impact against a minority group. It is possible to mine statistics and object to almost any law, even criminal laws, as impacting one demographic more than another.
Justice Alito wrote for the Supreme Court, “We also do not find the disparate-impact model employed in Title VII and Fair Housing Act cases useful here.” Alito added that the Democrats’ argument “would also transfer much of the authority to regulate election procedures from the States to the federal courts.” He thereby blocked attempts at judicial activism in interfering with good state election reforms.
This conservative decision should help defeat the 8 lawsuits that were filed against Georgia’s new election law. Even Biden’s Department of Justice has piled on with its own lawsuit to interfere with the reasonable Georgia law in cleaning up its election system, but the suit does not look promising.
Americans want real election integrity. Governor Abbott and President Biden would do well to get on board before the train leaves without them.
