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A bill to reestablish the felony status of illegal voting in Texas has the initial approval of a state Senate committee. Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee voted along party lines on Monday after hearing testimony from election workers, local party chairs, voting rights advocates, and others. The bill would reverse the downgrade of illegal voting to a misdemeanor, which the state legislature did two-years ago in the previous session. GOP state Senators Paul Bettencourt of Houston and Bryan Hughes of Mineola authored the bill.