In this issue…

Texas Democrats use gambit to kill Republicans’ voting overhaul at the last minute // Arizona Republicans go on their own mad-dash to upend election rules // Biden’s DOJ gets another top voting rights lawyer added to its leadership

Happy Memorial Day, readers! And a thank you to my colleague, Kate Riga, who helped me compile this week’s newsletter over the holiday weekend. The beginning of summer means we’re nearing the end of the state legislative push to overhaul voting practices. It also means that the U.S. Senate is entering crunch time for figuring out what comes next for Democrats’ big democracy overhaul. We’re covering that and more at The Franchise this week: 

Texas Democrats Killed Restrictive Voting Bill In Last Hours Of Session

In the final hours of the legislative session, Texas Democrats devised a plan to kill a sweeping legislative package that would limit early voting hours, make it more difficult to vote by mail and restrict options like drive-through voting. The bill seemed guaranteed to pass through both Republican-majority chambers, and has the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

As the session inched closer to midnight, Democrats slowly but steadily trickled out. At around 10:30 p.m., the remaining Democrats left. All of a sudden, the House lacked the two-thirds of members needed for a quorum, and couldn’t vote on the remaining bills including the voting overhaul. Democrats congregated at a nearby Baptist church, thought to be a tacit protest against the provision in the bill that would curtail early voting hours on Sundays.

The governor and lieutenant governor, steamed at the Democrats’ gambit, are insisting that the legislation be passed in a special session.

Arizona Enters Its End-Of-Session Dash To Restrict Voting

Arizona lawmakers still have a budget to pass before they can say goodbye to the Copper Dome for the summer. But as part of the end of session budget horse-trading, they put another round of restrictive election bills on the statehouse floor last week, with mixed results for the voter advocates who oppose the legislation.

An ID bill that would have mandated new ID requirements for mail ballots went down on the state House floor Thursday. But another measure that threatens jail time for election officials who send out unsolicited mail ballots made it out of the legislature and onto Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk. However, Ducey vetoed that bill along with 21 others, an attempt to light a fire under GOP lawmakers to get the budget done. He pledged that he wouldn’t sign another bill until a budget is passed. 

The most audacious election-related proposal of them all might be language that was tacked directly onto the legislature’s budget package. Republicans want to hamstring — but just for her term — Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ ability to get involved in elections litigation, after she opposed the fringe legal challenges to the 2020 results and opposed in court the current sham election audit. We’ll see if that blatantly partisan provision survives when the legislature picks up on the budget negotiations later this month.

Speaking of the Arizona audit … Things haven’t gone much smoother since the state Senate’s audit returned last week to its counting activities, after being forced to take a mid-May intermission because of graduation ceremonies being hosted at the audit site. 

First, the subcontractor in charge of the hand recount — the only firm involved with actual election administration experience — bailed as soon as its initial contract ran out. Then, Senate President Karen Fann gave CNN a rocky interview, in which she sounded surprised that people are skeptical of her audit’s close relationship to OAN. And on Friday, a new poll showed that voters opposed the recount.

Meanwhile, the GOP-controlled state Senate is reportedly on the cusp of signing a deal with another company that would run yet another recount of Maricopa County’s ballots.

Where MAGA’s Audit Mania Popped Up Last Week

Despite Arizona’s fiasco, the frenzy for sham audits is spreading. And on Thursday, I reported where Trump supporters are targeting their recount fantasies now:

• Cheboygen, Michigan has become the latest small county rocked by audit demands propelled by spurious election claims. Michigan’s Secretary of State weighed in last Monday to oppose the audit request.
• Steve Bannon has made supporting an audit of Pennsylvania’s results a litmus test for PA Senate candidates appearing on his show.
• The wildest plot yet may be coming out of Wisconsin, where the State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has hired three ex-cops — who will have subpoena power — to investigate claims about the 2020 vote.

Can Democrats Find A Path For Their Big Democracy Overhaul Bill?

The state-level voting shenanigans are only increasing the anxiety about the paralysis Democrats’ big democracy overhaul bill finds itself in. The refusal of Republicans to back off a filibuster for the Jan. 6 commission bill foreshadowed the brick wall the legislation, known as S1, will run into when it’s brought to the Senate floor.

Leader Schumer said Friday that he’ll bring the bill to the floor the week of June 21st. He had previously floated August as a possible deadline for getting it passed.

Meanwhile, President Biden, according to the New York Times, has privately told congressional Democrats that they should start thinking about what pieces of the bill they could part with in order to get it through the Senate.

Are there other ways the Biden administration can step up to protect voting rights? That’s likely a question of the mind for Kristen Clarke, the prominent voting rights attorney whom the Senate narrowly confirmed on Wednesday to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

A Redistricting News Round Up:

• A federal appeals court upheld on Thursday Michigan’s new independent redistricting commission, which is facing a legal challenge from Republicans who object to its rules excluding party officials from participating on the panel.
• Ohio is claiming victory in its lawsuit seeking to speed up the release of the redistricting data because it secured an agreement from the Census Bureau to give the state … updates on its ability to meet an already established mid-August goal for releasing the initial redistricting data. 
• Both chambers of the Democratic-majority Illinois legislature approved new maps Friday, sending them to the governor’s desk. On Thursday, Illinois Democrats had unveiled the revised House and Senate maps, which Republicans, like they have for the duration of the process, said were based on faulty data. Those same Republicans are now calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) to uphold his campaign promise to veto partisan-drawn plans, though he’s softened on that commitment in recent weeks.