Lawsuit seeks to block Texas vote-by-mail restriction

STATEMENT FROM MARC ELIAS:
New Texas Voting Rights Lawsuit

We just filed another Four Pillars case–this time in Texas.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — You might recall that we are already suing Texas for its many burdens on voting rights, including its unequal standard of who is eligible for a no-excuse absentee ballot and prohibition against accepting electronically signed voter registration applications. However, as we saw in Wisconsin’s April primary election, being able to vote absentee and have your ballot counted is critical.

Today we sued, sponsored by the National Redistricting Foundation, on behalf of Voto Latino, the Texas State Conference of the NAACP, the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans and individual voters. This lawsuit aims to ensure that Texans are not only eligible to vote by mail but are able to have their vote cast and counted. We are suing Texas on all Four Pillars, challenging the State’s:

1. Postage tax that requires voters to pay for postage on absentee ballots;
2. Ballot Receipt Deadline that requires ballots be postmarked by 7:00pm on Election Day and received by 5:00pm the day after Election Day;
3. Signature Match Requirement that lacks training and uniform standards, and gives voters no opportunity to cure a signature mismatch; and
4. Voter Assistance Ban that criminalizes third parties from assisting voters in mailing their absentee ballots.

These cases are more important now than ever because of the unforeseen burdens coronavirus is putting on states and their voting systems. I wish I could say that the hard work is done in fighting voter suppression for 2020. However, in many ways, the fight has just begun. State legislatures are considering new voting laws that will suppress the vote. Texas’s Attorney General has repeatedly publicly threatened voters with criminal prosecution, should they apply for a mail-in ballot because of fears about contracting or spreading COVID-19. And as we saw last week, the RNC and Trump doubled their legal budget to $20 million just to fight our lawsuits.

I can assure you that we will not sit by and let Republican election officials disenfranchise voters in a cynical effort to win elections at all costs. I expect to file several additional Four Pillars cases in the coming weeks and months, all aimed at protecting the right of voters to participate in elections and have their votes counted.