Voter Suppression, Texas Style

The secretary of state's office threatened legal action against Harris County if it sends mail-in ballot applications to more than 2 million registered voters.

Texas has strict eligibility requirements for voting by mail, so not all voters will qualify. https://t.co/aL1nby9dbB

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 28, 2020

This is very high-grade bullshit.

In a letter dated Aug. 27, Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Texas secretary of state, told Harris County to “immediately halt” its plans to send every registered voter in the county an application for a mail-in ballot for the general election. Ingram demanded the county drop its plan by Monday to avoid legal action by the Texas attorney general.

Sending out the applications "would be contrary to our office’s guidance on this issue and an abuse of voters’ rights under Texas Election Code Section 31.005,” Ingram wrote, citing a provision of state law that gives the secretary of state’s office power to take such action to “protect the voting rights” of Texans from “abuse” by local officials responsible for administering elections.

The "abuse" is making it easier for voters to vote.  I'll just cut to the nub.  The Texas Supreme Court basically sided with Harris County (and other counties) against Paxton's argument that fear of coronavirus contagion was not grounds for requesting a mail-in ballot.  Yes, the Court agreed covid-19 was not explicitly covered in the Election Code, but it agreed with Harris County's argument that the clerk could not investigate requests for mail-in ballots based on disability.  They had to take the voter's representations at face value, and assume good faith.  So while it ruled covid-19 fears were not sufficient to establish a "disability" under the Election Code, it also ruled that investigations of any claim of "disability" on an application for a mail-in ballot were not required before the "disability" could be claimed.

So what Harris County is doing now is simply mailing out applications (which are readily available on-line; it's how I filed my application for a mail-in ballot) to all registered voters, with the information I used in filling out my application.  If that "confuses" voters, the confusion is in the Election Code and the language used by the County Clerk to notify voters of how, and if, they can use a mail-in ballot instead of voting in person.

Which is pretty much what Harris County said to the Texas SOS:  a very polite "fuck you very much."

I like the County's odds in court.

ADDING: early voting in Texas starts October 13, 2020.  If the AG goes to court on this and can't get an injunction to stop the mailing of applications, case closed.  If the AG can get an injunction, all those applications already mailed out, don't get clawed back.  I seriously doubt the AG could get an injunction, but he'd better hurry if he's intent on trying.  The applications already in the mail are beyond the court's reach, and every day that passes means more applications going out.