Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott announced that he will be calling a special session of the state legislature in order to hold a vote on various pieces of legislation, including that concerning election integrity.
In a proclamation on Thursday, Abbott called “an extraordinary session” to come together in Austin, Texas, beginning on Saturday.
The proclamation noted that the session is being held in order to consider and act upon various measures, including legislation “strengthening the integrity of elections in Texas.”
The proclamation also commented on legislation regarding the return of children to classrooms during the ongoing pandemic.
It noted that the legislature will consider legislation “providing strategies for public-school education in prekindergarten through twelfth grade during the COVID-19 pandemic, which ensures … students receive a high-quality education and progress in their learning; in-person learning is available for any student whose parent wants it; the wearing of face coverings is not mandatory; and vaccinations are always voluntary.”
In a statement, Abbott said, “The Texas Legislature achieved a great deal during the 87th Legislative Session, and they have a responsibility to finish the work that was started.”
He added, “I will continue to call special session after special session to reform our broken bail system, uphold election integrity, and pass other important items that Texans demand and deserve.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was reportedly asked about the special session, and said, “Our fundamental view is that if you are pushing for legislation that makes it harder and not easier to vote, that makes it less accessible, that limits the ability of people to get to the polls, to take time off to do that, then our question is, what are you afraid of here? Are you afraid of more people getting out to vote?”
Democrats in the state legislature left the state last month and boarded private planes to Washington, D.C., in an effort to avoid holding a vote on the election integrity legislation.
As The Daily Wire reported at the time, the Democrats left Texas “so there would not be enough legislators present for a variety of bills to be passed, including voter integrity laws, bills that would protect girls from having to compete against biological males in sports, fund arrests of illegal aliens, clampdown on abortion, and crackdown on racist Critical Race Theory being taught in schools.”
“Isn’t that the most un-Texan thing you’ve ever heard? Texans running from a fight? They’re quitters,” Abbott told Fox News at the time. “It’s like during a football game or baseball game, taking their equipment when they’re way behind and just leaving the field. That is not the way that Texas, Texans do things.”
Abbott said at the time that once the Democrats got back to Texas, they would be forced to go to the state House in order to do their job and vote on the measures that they were attempting to protest.
“What the law is — it’s in the Constitution — and that is the House, the State House of Representatives who were here in the Capitol in Austin right now, they do have the ability to issue a call to have their fellow members who are not showing up to be arrested, but only so long as that arrest is made in the state of Texas,” Abbott said at the time.
“That’s why they have fled the state. Once they step back into the state of Texas, they will be arrested and brought to the Texas Capitol, and we will be conducting business,” he added.