The passage of the bill came a week after a handful of Democrats returned to the State Capitol, effectively ending a 38-day walkout that included the flight of much of the party’s State House delegation to Washington and drew national attention to the fight over voting rights in Texas.

It signaled the end stages in the most protracted battle in a nationwide Republican campaign to harden election rules in response to false claims about the integrity of the 2020 presidential contest.

The House’s version of the bill, which passed on a nearly party-line vote of 80 to 41, will be considered by the State Senate before it can be sent to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott.

The bill would ban voting changes that were introduced last year by local officials, like drive-through polling places and 24-hour voting; greatly empower partisan poll watchers; limit the mailing of absentee ballot applications; and increase civil and criminal penalties for voter fraud and for election officials who run afoul of the election code.