Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6 Texas 87th Legislature

Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, the primary election integrity bills in their respective chambers, intend to “reduce the likelihood of fraud” in Texas elections. The following analysis finds that both fail to meet this standard of success by inflating baseless accusations of fraud and incentivizing the fabrication of allegations in future elections. SB 7 and CSHB 6 also threaten to limit democratic participation, advancing proposals that restrict access to mail-in ballots or limit voting hours at polling locations. Because SB 7 and CSHB 6 suffer from these three flaws, neither will restore faith in the US election system, and both will likely exacerbate current distrust.