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Ashley Bean Thornton for Texas House District 56

Bail Reform - Prop 3

(Early Voting for the November 4 election starts Monday (October 20,2025). This will be our opportunity to vote on 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. That’s a lot of propositions!

 I am working through the list a few at a time and sharing how I plan to vote. 

Here are links to the ones I have done so far: 

 

You are not allowed to take your phone with you into the polls, but you are allowed to take a piece of paper with notes.  For what it’s worth, here’s a printable version of what I have figured out so far. I will update it every time I post till it is finished.: Propositions and How ABT is voting. Thank you! – ABT)


How I Plan to vote and why:

Proposition 3 is about bail reform. This is a hard one for me.   Here’s my understanding of what this change to the constitution would do:

Currently, only people charged with capital murder can be denied bail. This change would expand the list of crimes for which could be denied bail to include:

  • aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury or involving a firearm, club, knife, or explosive
  • Aggravated kidnapping
  • Aggravated robbery
  • Aggravated sexual assault
  • Indecency with a child
  • Trafficking or continuous trafficking of persons.

In order to deny bail, the counsel for the defendant and the prosecutor must appear before a judge in a hearing.  The prosecutor must prove either:

Flight Risk – by a preponderance of the evidence that releasing the person on bail would not reasonably prevent them from fleeing or missing court.

Or, Public Safety Risk – by clear and convincing evidence that releasing the person would not reasonably ensure the safety of the community, law enforcement, or the victim.

Certainly, I do not want dangerous people free on the streets to commit terrible crimes while they await trial for other terrible crimes.  I don’t think any of us want that. 

The problem, though, is that at this point in the process people have been accused of crimes, not convicted of crimes. Without the possibility of bail, people could be locked up for weeks or months before finally proving themselves to be innocent at trial.  We need to be wary of locking people up who are presumed innocent – especially since this kind of thing almost always ends up punishing more low-income people and minority people than it does well-off, White people. 

Undoubtedly some people are now doing terrible harm while they are free on bail.  And, undoubtedly if we implement this amendment some people – more likely low-income people and minorities – will be locked up unfairly while they await trial. 

Which risk is worse?

When it comes down to it, I am going to vote YES for this proposition because I have a friend who was raped by a criminal who was out on bail who would have been denied bail if this change had been in place.  It’s personal for her and that makes it personal for me. The risk of that happening to someone else is the worse risk to me.

At the same time, I know our justice system is not perfect, and some will be locked up unjustly.   We are responsible for making sure our judges administer this new rule fairly and with commitment to the standard of clear and convincing evidence before locking someone up who should be presumed innocent until trial – but, realistically, how will we really even know if that is happening?  I’m going to vote YES on this one, but with a heavy heart.  

Resources: