House Passes Concealed Carry at Polls for Election Judges

The Texas House on Thursday passed a bill that would allow election judges and voting clerks to carry a concealed handgun at polling places. It will now head to the Senate for further consideration.

Texas’s concealed carry laws do not offer protections in certain locations, including in courthouses, at racetracks or at polling places on election day or during early voting in an election.

House Bill 1128, written by Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, would remove that exemption for election judges, voting clerks and deputy voting clerks.

Isaac sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs, the body responsible for hearing many of the Legislature’s bills on gun safety and regulation. Last month, she drew condemnation for her dismissive reaction to a gun violence advocate who recited the names of the children killed in the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

That House committee is disproportionately Republican, even by Texas standards. To most closely reflect the party’s 58.7% share of the House, six of its 11 members should be Republicans — a one-vote majority. Instead, GOP lawmakers hold eight of the seats on that committee — nearly three-quarters of its membership.

On April 24, the committee passed Isaac’s bill with a recommendation on a 7-1 vote, according to a tally by uslege.ai. Democratic Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg voted with Republicans in support of the measure, leaving San Antonio Democratic Rep. Ray Lopez casting the only vote of opposition. (Republican Reps. Katrina Pierson of Rockwall and Hillary Hickland of Belton were absent from that vote, as was Democratic Rep. Philip Cortez of San Antonio.)

The full House heard the measure in second reading during floor debate on Wednesday. It passed 89-53, according to uslege.ai.

On Thursday, the House passed the bill in a third and final reading on a vote of 85-57, with two members not voting. Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, raised a point of order against the proposal but eventually withdrew it.

Now out of the lower chamber, HB 1128 will head to the more conservative Senate, where it likely will find a warm reception.