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Procedural Delays Mark Voter ID Debate

The vote ID bill is one step closer to the governor's desk.
Photo by KUT News
The vote ID bill is one step closer to the governor's desk.

UPDATE, 11:07 p.m.:

After nearly 12 hours of debate, about a dozen "points of order" and more than 60 amendments the House has given initial approval of a voter ID bill.  The highly partisan bill has one more vote in the House before heading to a conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill.  Democrats have tried to block the bill for several years, saying it could lead to voter suppression among minority voters.  As the debate finally wrapped up Republicans had four of the party's Hispanic members speak in favor of the bill.

EARLIER:  With a 101 to 49 seat Republican edge in the Texas House, a voter ID bill is going to pass the House.  But that isn't keeping Democrats from diving deep into their bag of parliamentary procedures to delay the inevitable. 

From the moment the bill was brought to the floor Wednesday, Democrats attacked with multiple "points of order."  That's when a lawmakers claims a bill is not following the rules of the House.  It was a point of order on differences between the bill and the bill analysis that kicked Voter ID off the floor Monday.  

After about 4 hours of these procedural delays, the body began going over a handful of amendments to the bill.  If the bill ends up passing today it will could come back up tomorrow for a final vote.

Ben Philpott is the Managing Editor for KUT. Got a tip? Email him at bphilpott@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenPhilpottKUT.
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