June 1, 2021
Thanks to all of you who contacted your Texas state legislators in support of Ranked Choice Voting.
We made progress this session despite the focus on designated priority issues of pandemic recovery, energy security after the February freeze, and the 2020 election aftermath.
This nonpartisan change in voting logistics is needed more than ever in Texas to save money, elect officials with broad voter support, and help restore faith in elections.
Of the three RCV bills introduced in the just ended 87th Texas legislative session, the one for military and overseas voters passed the full House with bipartisan support, 83 to 61. Representative Art Fierro, who filed this bill, let us know that without your calls and email messages the bill would likely not have gotten to a vote by the full House nor would it have passed.
Unfortunately, other priorities prevailed and the bill died in the Texas Senate committee to which it was referred. This bill would have allowed military and overseas voters to use RCV so their right to vote would not be adversely affected by delays in getting ballots for runoff elections.
• Hearings were not held on our other two bills – one to use RCV in primary elections and the other allowing RCV as an option in nonpartisan municipal and school board elections.
• We will build upon this partial victory as we prepare for the 2023 Texas legislative session. We'll start with pursuing an offer by a Republican State Senator to request an Interim Charge, which would designate RCV as a priority issue for research and public hearings in preparation for the next session. We will share more on this later this summer. • Concurrently, we will continue to build broad grassroots support throughout Texas. We hope you will join this effort to educate the public, influencers, and legislators on the benefits of RCV.
Thanks for your support!
Thanks to all of you who contacted your Texas state legislators in support of Ranked
Choice Voting. We made progress this session despite the focus on designated
priority issues of pandemic recovery, energy security after the February freeze, and
the 2020 election aftermath. This nonpartisan change in voting logistics is needed
more than ever in Texas to save money, elect officials with broad voter support, and
help restore faith in elections.
• Of the three RCV bills introduced in the just ended 87th Texas legislative
session, the one for military and overseas voters passed the full House with
bipartisan support, 83 to 61. Representative Art Fierro, who filed this bill, let
us know that without your calls and email messages the bill would likely not
have gotten to a vote by the full House nor would it have passed.
Unfortunately, other priorities prevailed and the bill died in the Texas Senate
committee to which it was referred. This bill would have allowed military
and overseas voters to use RCV so their right to vote would not be adversely
affected by delays in getting ballots for runoff elections.
• Hearings were not held on our other two bills – one to use RCV in primary
elections and the other allowing RCV as an option in nonpartisan municipal
and school board elections.
• We will build upon this partial victory as we prepare for the 2023 Texas
legislative session. We'll start with pursuing an offer by a Republican State
Senator to request an Interim Charge, which would designate RCV as a
priority issue for research and public hearings in preparation for the next
session. We will share more on this later this summer.
Texas. We hope you will join this effort to educate the public, influencers,
and legislators on the benefits of RCV.
Thanks for your support!
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