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-registrar

https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/forms/volunteer-deputy-registrar-training.pdf

Anthony: 

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-TX

https://www.aclutx.org/en/news/sorry-state-voting-rights-texas  

Abbott v Perez

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/17-586  

Gerrymandering Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mky11UJb9AY 

Thomas: 

https://newrepublic.com/article/147713/texass-voter-fraud-crusade-sends-mother-two-prison-five-years

https://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=5

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790319853/are-states-purging-or-cleaning-voter-registration-rolls

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/election-integrity

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-2021

https://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-cases

https://www.texaspolicy.com/legevoterfraud/

https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-g

5. 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-rolls

Amber:

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/