Texas Governor Abbott backs GOP bills seeking to protect election integrity

"Our objective in Texas is to ensure that every eligible voter gets to vote and that only eligible ballots are counted," Abbott said.

By Nicholas Sherman

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is backing an effort by fellow state Republicans to pass widespread voting-integrity legislation during the upcoming legislative session including measures to prevent voter fraud and abuses to absentee and mail-in balloting.

Abbott pledged his support Monday in Houston at a press conference with state Sen. Paul Bettencourt and state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who have each already filed emergency legislation on the issue.

"Our objective in Texas is to ensure that every eligible voter gets to vote and that only eligible ballots are counted," Abbott said. "In the 2020 election, we witnessed actions throughout our state that could risk the integrity of our elections and enable voter fraud, which is why I made election integrity an emergency item this session."

Two bills were mentioned by Abbott House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7, both lawmakers present authored the bills.

The first bill also called the Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021 seeks to limit mail-in-ballots and drive-through-voting, according to CBS Austin.