GHP condemns voter suppression
But the statement makes no mention of legislation
After days of external pressure from Harris County politicians and internal calls from board members to speak out against voting bills in the Texas Legislature, the Greater Houston Partnership on Thursday evening issued a broad condemnation of efforts to restrict ballot access.
It made no mention of the legislation. Bob Harvey, the partnership’s president, said the statement came out of a listening session Thursday morning with more than 80 board members to discuss the bills. The two main proposals, Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, would limit early voting hours, ban drivethru voting, lessen restrictions on poll watchers and streamline the process to purge voters from rolls.
Harris County’s election administrator said a provision in SB 7 to tie polling sites to the population of state House districts would result in shifting sites from Houston neigh
borhoods with high Black and Latino populations to suburban, whiter ones.
Harvey said 15 members spoke during the one-hour discussion, and “it remains clear there is no consensus on our board to take a formal position on the legislation itself.”
He said a clear consensus did support the new statement, which acknowledges that Texas and the United States have historically suppressed the vote of certain groups, including women, the poor, residents of color and those with disabilities. The partnership, the statement reads in part:
“Believes voter suppression is wrong and stands firmly against it in any form.
“Believes impediments to voting should be reduced to the greatest extent possible.
“Believes the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and that all citizens should have ready and easy access to vote.”
A group of 10 board members last week called on the partnership to formally oppose the voting bills. Some said they were dismayed by Harvey’s comments then that the group lacked a consensus, since he declined to hold a special board meeting at which one may be reached nor allow the group to vote on the matter.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Thursday they found the partnership’s silence unacceptable. Both said they would not host their annual state of the city and county speeches with the partnership this year, which are typically large fundraisers for the group.
Turner and Hidalgo said Friday the partnership’s new statement would not change their decision. The mayor said he was disappointed the House had advanced its version of SB 7 overnight.
“More than 350 of these voter restriction, suppression bills have been filed across the country, trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist,” Turner said. “These bills were filed because a lot of people voted in the last presidential election, and specifically more people of color.”
The partnership, founded in 1840, is the region’s largest chamber of commerce. It regularly lobbies the Legislature on issues that affect its members and constituents.