Bryan Hughes Says Illegal Voting Penalty Shouldn’t Impact Prosecutions

Listen to the audio below for the full interview with Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes.

The third special session for the Texas Legislature is over and as of today, there doesn't appear to be any plans for the fourth special session. Of course there is some disagreement about whether a fourth special session is needed. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called for a fourth special session on Wednesday, but the Governor made it clear through a spokesperson that now wasn't the time for another special session.

Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes joined The Chad Hasty Show on Wednesday to share his thoughts on the special sessions and the accomplishments of them.

Hughes discussed redistricting and the process that went into it and also spoke about the voter integrity legislation that was passed but became controversial among Republicans after the Texas House and Senate voted to approve the bill with reduced penalties for illegal voting. According to Hughes, the House offered it up as an amendment that the Senate just "missed". Hughes did say that it shouldn't lead to any negative impacts on prosecution of cases.

This one got past us. And I don't know what else to say. It's embarrassing. We should have caught it. The good news is, this charge of illegal voting, the AG tells us that no one is just charged with illegal voting. It's illegal voting plus fraud and other counts. So the good news is this should not effect prosecutions.

Hughes went on to say that the practical effect isn't much but admitted that passing a strong bill but weakening the punishment sends the "wrong message". Hughes says it needs to be fixed in the future.

Listen to the full interview with Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes above.