Texas is the latest battleground in the ever-expanding fight over voter rights

This is an issue that is not going away, so expect further legislative clashes on both the federal and state levels, writes Chris Stevenson

Joe Biden has hit out after Texas became the latest state – after Florida and Georgia – to try and push through restrictions (Getty)

The latest frontier in the fight over voting rights in the US is Texas – where Democrats walked off the floor of the state's House of Representatives late on Sunday to deny the quorum needed to approve a bill that would mean new voting restrictions.

The Republican-controlled House had looked set to pass the bill before a midnight deadline which marked the end of the legislative session. The state's governor, Greg Abbott – a Republican – promptly tweeted that he would call a special legislative session to seek to get the measures passed, but didn't say when that would be.

Texas is the latest Republican-controlled state – after Florida and Georgia, among others – to try and push through such restrictions since November's presidential election.

Democrats are hoping to try and counter such curbs on voter rights by passing legislation that would guarantee access at the federal level. However, while a bill has passed through one chamber of Congress, the Democrat-majority House, it has stalled in the Senate, where the Democrat/Republican split is far tighter.

In a sign of how seriously Democrats are taking the issue, president Joe Biden called the Texas legislation “a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote" and called it "part of an assault on democracy that we've seen far too often this year”.

"In the 21st century, we should be making it easier, not harder, for every eligible voter to vote," Biden said on Saturday.

A recent report from the Brennan Centre for Justice – a law and policy institute based at New York University School of Law – found that at least 14 states have already enacted at least 20 laws around voting restrictions. At least 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures, according to the report. Meanwhile, at least 389 bills have been introduced in 48 of the 50 states during the 2021 legislative session.

This is an issue that is not going away, with Donald Trump's doomed – and wrong – complaints about the result of the presidential election having given the push for restrictive measures a shot in the arm among Republicans.

If Democrats aren’t able to win the battle in Congress, they will have to find another way to tackle an issue that could have deep ramifications over the next few years.