Episode 14: Voting Suppression, Voting Laws and Gov. Abbot's State of the State

Hello Fort Worth and welcome to another episode of the Fort Worth Freedom Review.If you are new here, the Freedom Review exists to inform and educate the Fort Worth and Tarrant County community about the values and the functions of civic engagement, the goings-on of the local City Council, the Mayor, and the County Commissioners Court as well as important news stories from our community and from the greater Texas community including state political issues. My name is Anthony Sosa and today with me we have Amber O’Dell, Christopher Rose and Thomas Moore here to discuss the history of voter suppression in TX, the current state of our voting laws, how voter suppression affects election integrity and Governor Abbot’s State of the State address. All of the resources used for today's episode will be provided below in the show notes. As always, please subscribe and sign up for our newsletter and get updates on FW political news and deep dives into local issues. We are currently a volunteer organization, if you would like to get involved or want to contact us you can reach us at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter at @FWReview. This podcast is made possible by The Justice Reform League, a Fort Worth based non-profit. If you wish to support us and this podcast, please go to www.justicereformleague.org  and click on the Donate button. Music by Anthony Sosa Notes: To become a volunteer deputy registrar  https://my.lwv.org/texas/volunteer-deputy-registrarhttps://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/forms/volunteer-deputy-registrar-training.pdfAnthony: Bills that may decrease voter suppression https://www.reformaustin.org/2021-texas-session-bills/the-bills-that-may-decrease-voter-suppression-in-texas/The Guardian - TX Voter Restrictions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/18/texas-voting-restrictions-rights-coronavirus NBC- Racist Voter Suppression Laws https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/racist-voter-suppression-texas-laws-keep-latinos-ballot-box-groups-n1241862 Houston Public Media Texas Is Among The Most Difficult Places To Vote In The U.S. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2020/2020/10/28/384854/voter-suppression-blunts-historic-turnout-in-texas/ Texas Monthly - What if They Held an Election and Everybody Came? https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/voter-suppression-texas-history/ ACLU-TXhttps://www.aclutx.org/en/news/sorry-state-voting-rights-texas  Abbott v Perezhttps://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/17-586  Gerrymandering Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mky11UJb9AY  Thomas: https://newrepublic.com/article/147713/texass-voter-fraud-crusade-sends-mother-two-prison-five-yearshttps://www.criminalattorneyfortworth.com/voting-in-texas-how-to-avoid-unintentional-fraud-charges/https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search?combine=&state=TX&year=&case_type=All&fraud_type=All&page=5https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790319853/are-states-purging-or-cleaning-voter-registration-rollshttps://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/election-integrityhttps://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-2021https://www.kxan.com/investigations/150-people-charged-with-voter-fraud-in-texas-since-2004-but-convictions-rarely-mean-jail-time/https://www.democracydocket.com/https://www.democracydocket.com/state/texas/?by_case_type=active-caseshttps://www.texaspolicy.com/legevoterfraud/https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-g5. Voter PURGING definition https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_caging_and_purging   Almost 16 million voters have been purged between 2014 and 2016. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/voter-purges   GA vote purges: https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/10/29/georgia-voting-registration-records-removed   https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/georgia-voter-rolls-report/index.html   Update on case https://www.ajc.com/politics/judge-rules-georgia-doesnt-have-to-immediately-restore-purged-voters/YORHAUV6Z5GO7JVVHGEPGTJ56U/   GA WildN   https://www.democracydocket.com/state/georgia/?by_case_type=active-cases   More vote purging resources:  https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-rights/-use-it-or-lose-it---the-problem-of-purges-from-the-registration0/   https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790319853/are-states-purging-or-cleaning-voter-registration-rollsAmber:https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/02/03/texas-gov-greg-abbott-says-tighter-restrictions-on-mail-in-ballot-procedures-will-deter-voter-fraud/  Voter Suppression Episode 2/7/21. Abbott Address to the State: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/01/abbott-state-of-state-2021/