Turns out, it’s not cool — or legal — to raid the homes of people trying to register voters and threaten them with a decade in prison!
A federal judge has declared that parts of the Texas voter security law are unconstitutional, meaning that our state can no longer kick in people’s doors for the unforgivable sin of helping others vote.
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, a rare judge apparently blessed with common sense, found that part of the Texas 2021 omnibus voter legislation is confusing, vague, and overly broad, the Texas Tribune reported.
Specifically, he concluded that the law’s restrictions on assisting voters who need help completing or returning their ballots violates the First and 14th Amendments. As the Tribune wrote, the ruling “immediately halted the state’s ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens.”
Previously, our dumb-ass law stated that anyone who provided or offered such services in exchange for compensation could spend up to ten fucking years in prison.
“Witnesses were particularly uncertain about how to interpret the terms ‘physical presence’ and ‘compensation’ — neither of which is defined in the statute — and how the Canvassing Restriction impacts organizers’ ability to provide voting assistance during their in-person interactions with voters,” Rodriguez wrote.
This all occurred after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office raided the homes of Latino Democrats after allegations of so-called “voter fraud.” (There wasn’t any, it was just some Fox News bullshit — but in Texas, that’s enough proof for authorities.)
Civil rights organization LULAC said that authorities seized some of its members’ laptops and cell phones — including the phone of a Democratic candidate for the Texas House. Paxton’s office even targeted an 87-year-old San Antonio resident.
Paxton said Monday that he’ll appeal the ruling — because of course he will.
“A ruling — weeks prior to an election — preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process,” he whined in a release.
