Beto O'Rourke And AFL-CIO Hold Voting Rights Rally At Texas State Capitol

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

June 21, 2021

Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke headlined a voting rights rally in Austin on June 20, a day before Democrats in the U.S. Senate take up a sweeping bill aimed at combating new Republican-backed voting restrictions in Texas and other states across the country.

Democratic lawmakers in Texas staged a dramatic, 11th-hour walkout as the legislative session was ending last month, blocking the Republican majority from passing a wide-ranging bill that would have eliminated drive-through and overnight voting, made it easier for judges to overturn election results and given partisan poll watchers more access to polling sites.

Texas is part of a national push by Republicans to tighten voting laws after former President Donald Trump’s false claim that he lost last year’s presidential election due to voter fraud. Republican-controlled legislatures have passed new rules in several battleground states, including Georgia, Arizona and Florida.

CBS Local Digital Media personalizes the global reach of CBS-owned and operated television and radio stations with a local perspective.