The Republican governor of Texas on Tuesday signed an election reform bill into law that supporters say helps close loopholes in the election system while making it easier for people to cast their votes. Texas Senate Bill 1 (pdf) expands the number of hours Texans have to go to polls and forces employers to let workers vote during early voting or Election Day. It also adds layers to the mail-in voting process, and makes the act of ballot harvesting, or gathering votes cast by others, a third-degree felony. The law “does make it easier than ever before for anybody to go cast a ballot,” Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters in Austin before signing the legislation. “It does also, however, make sure that it is harder for people to cheat at the ballot box in Texas.” “Easy to vote, hard to cheat,” is how Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes, the bill’s author, …