The 89th Legislative Session saw the successful passage of several measures aligned with the Republican Party of Texas’ aim to bolster election security. However, activists continue calling for additional safeguards.
Advancing Integrity’s President Christine Welborn said, “The 89th Session gave us a mixed bag, a couple of bills that could threaten integrity and [a] few small victories in transparency and accountability.”
In May, the Texas House passed Senate Joint Resolution 37 by State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury), a constitutional amendment seeking to clarify that only citizens are allowed to vote. The measure passed the Senate in April.
The proposition will read as follows: “The constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a United States citizen.”
Texans will be able to vote on the amendment on November 4, 2025.
However, several election security bills never passed both chambers or even left committee.
Senate Bill 16 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) would have required further verification of citizenship for voters by the county registrar and only allowed for a limited federal ballot for unverified voters. In addition, the legislation sought to create criminal offenses for failures and mismanagement regarding the verification process.
“Texans also lost the ability to truly keep non-citizens from voting in Texas elections when SB 16 died in the House Calendars Committee,” Welborn said.
Another measure that disappointed activists when it failed was House Bill 5138 by State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R–Plano), which would have restored the attorney general’s authority to prosecute election crimes, but only if the local district attorney had refused to prosecute for six months.
The Senate sought to restore the attorney general’s power to prosecute immediately. Ultimately, the two chambers were unable to reconcile the differences in approach.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office supported the Senate version and urged the legislature to return the power to the office.
Despite these losses, Gov. Greg Abbott has received several election-related bills for his signature. Two will bring long-term improvements to citizenship verification.
Senate Bill 1470 by Hughes requires the Department of Public Safety to share driver’s license information to maintain the statewide voter registration list.
The goal is to identify voters whose addresses have changed, those who are not qualified to vote, and those who are registered to vote in multiple states.
Senate Bill 1862, also by Hughes, would require registrars to document and submit information to the secretary of state if a voter registration applicant indicates their previous residence was outside the state.
This information may be used to remove the voter from the jurisdiction’s registration list if the voter is ineligible to vote.
Other laws passed during the session clarify existing legal structures, enhance criminal penalties, and establish new election fraud offenses.
Senate Bill 506 by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) would amend the Election Code to require greater clarity in ballot propositions.
Ballot propositions are any law, issue, or topic placed on a state or local ballot for citizens to vote on whether it should be implemented or not.
SB 506 would see the following added to the election code: “A proposition must substantially submit the question with such definiteness, certainty, and facial neutrality that the voters are not misled.”
House Bill 1661 by State Rep. Cody Vasut (R–Angleton) creates new offenses if the authority responsible for providing election materials intentionally does not provide them to certain precincts in order to disenfranchise those voters.
House Bill 5115 by Shaheen creates additional definitions for what constitutes election fraud and increases penalties.
Senate Bill 827 by State Sen. Tan Parker (R–Flower Mound) establishes more rigorous, transparent, and standardized auditing procedures for Texas elections using electronic voting systems, with requirements for random manual counts, risk-limiting audits, public reporting, and oversight by appointed watchers.
Senate Bill 2166, also by Parker, will implement new testing procedures for electronic voting equipment to ensure proper functioning.
Senate Bill 2753 by State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood) creates a plethora of small administrative changes to increase security. It merges early voting and Election Day voting into a single period, establishes larger voting centers, maintains mail-in voting for specific groups, and standardizes election administration.
SB 2753 was originally filed to abolish early and absentee voting, though this was later amended out of the final bill.
“Those new mandates and increased penalties are moot, however, without the ability for the attorney general to prosecute,” Welborn emphasized.
She added, “The majority of bills were positive, but overall the session was disappointing and Texas citizens will have to continue to be the main watchdogs for their county elections.”
Abbott is expected to sign some of the bills into law in the coming days.
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