I think we can all guess which counties the bill, which will now go to the Republican-dominated House, targets. Hint: They aren't Republican strongholds.

From Democracy Docket:

S.B. 1933 would allow the secretary of state — in Texas, a position appointed by the governor — to take over election administration and voter registration in Texas counties. The bill would specifically authorize this “administrative oversight” if an election complaint is filed with the secretary of state’s office and the secretary of state has “good cause to believe that a recurring pattern of problems with election administration or voter registration exists in the county.” The broad categories listed as pretext for state oversight include delays in reporting election results, failure to comply with list maintenance procedures, voting equipment malfunctions and more.

If the state imposes oversight on a county, the county election office would be required to submit any voting or policy changes to the state for approval and allow staff from the secretary of state’s office to observe election proceedings. The state would also be empowered to appoint a conservator to take over election duties and recommend that a county suspend or terminate the current election administrator. “[T]he governor is trying to override voters to replace leaders he can’t control,”ACLU Texas tweeted about the legislation.

The current Texas secretary of state, Jane Nelson, a Republican and former Texas state senator, was nominated by Gov. Greg Abbott, another Republican, and confirmed by the Republican-controlled senate in March.

In case it’s not obvious who’s being targeted, other legislation all but names Houston’s Harris County. Democracy Docket notes, “Senate Bill 1750 would eliminate the position of election administrator in counties with a population of 3.5 million or more (Harris County is the only county with this many people) and Senate Bill 1993 would give the secretary of state the authority to order an election to be rerun in counties with a population of more than 2.7 million (again, only Harris County would qualify) under certain circumstances.”

To be clear, there has been what The Texas Tribune calls “mismanagement of its recent elections” by Harris County. But this seems more like an excuse to interfere than a helping hand. The Tribune also reports that no bills have been filed in this legislative session that would help fund county election departments’ infrastructure. And The Tribune quotes the League of Women Voters of Texas as saying the legislation “is fraught for potential abuse, infringes on the rights of county governments to select their own elections administrator, and demeans the meaning of local governance.”