In a high-stakes political maneuver, more than 50 Texas House Democrats are leveraging their collective might to bring a statewide school voucher vote to the people this November, an effort that could derail several GOP legislative priorities in the process. As reported by CBS Austin, this move strategically threatens to block all constitutional amendments for the remainder of the session unless the school voucher issue is placed on the ballot.

With the Republicans currently stripped of the tradition that offered minority party committee chairmanships, Democrats are using what's left of their leverage against Gov. Greg Abbott's preferred legislative narrative, particularly taking aim at Senate Bill 2 that seeks to set up an education savings account program, yet Governor Greg Abbott remains opposed to changing the bill even to the extent to allow a public vote on it, asserting his confidence backed by polling, in the Texas populace's support for vouchers, according to The Texas Tribune.

Within the state's politicking chess game, constitutional amendments necessitate a minimum of 100 affirmative votes from the 150-member House before they can proceed to voters; with the Democrats holding 62 of those seats, the GOP's arithmetic requires a crossover of at least 12 Democrats to realize any such amendment. The current standstill in the House, one in which no constitutional amendment proposals have been adopted since the beginning of the month, plays to the Democrats' strategy to push the voucher question to the forefront.

Despite their strong opposition to vouchers the Democrats are now in search of a Republican who will carry the ballot measure amendment to SB 2 as the House readies for tomorrow's debate on the matter, and forthcoming measures, including those seeking to ban "death taxes" (House Joint Resolution 2) and capital gains taxes (House Joint Resolution 6) are also now facing potential delays which may force a re-evaluation of the priorities within the state's upper echelons, as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has made known his readiness to call a special session should the legislature duck such measures.