Jim Crow Ballot 'Purity' Phrase Yanked From Texas Vote Suppression Bill At Last Minute

GOP lawmakers ultimately decided not to advertise the segregationist nature of the voting measure.

A segregationist term from the Jim Crow era referring to the “purity” of ballots was yanked at the last minute before the Texas House passed a measure restricting voting. Eighteen amendments — 13 of them from Democrats — were added to the Republican election bill before it was passed 78-64 Friday.  But an initial fight was over the bill’s statement of purpose. It initially said that said the measure was designed to “preserve the purity of the ballot box” — a phrase “drafted specifically to disenfranchise Black voters following the Civil War,” Democratic Rep. Rafael Anchía told bill sponsor Rep. Briscoe Cain (R).