Civil rights groups challenge Texas’ recently passed voting restrictions bill

From [HERE] Texas’ recently passed elections bill that restricts certain forms of voting has been challenged in two federal lawsuits filed by civil and voting rights groups across the state. 

In both lawsuits, plaintiffs allege that the bill, Senate Bill 1, violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the U.S. Constitution and seek declaratory and injunctive relief against it. 

Senate Bill 1 was passed Tuesday on party-line votes. The bill, once becoming law, restricts municipalities from using 24-hour and drive-through voting, creates criminal penalties for election officials who refuse poll watchers or send vote by mail ballot applications to people who did not request one and sets new ID requirements for those applying to vote by mail. Poll watchers will also have expanded access at polling locations, being able to “see and hear” poll workers' interactions with voters.

Both lawsuits were filed Friday in federal courts in Austin and San Antonio. The cases both raise concerns that the bill violates the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the First, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. 

In the Austin case, the groups cite vagueness in the bill that leaves no clear indication of how voters can be interacted with by election workers. As they see it, the bill is “overbroad” and abridges the First Amendment rights of groups actively working to engage and inform voters of their rights. 

Plaintiffs in both cases allege that Senate Bill 1 creates barriers that will impair people with disabilities, limited English and people of color's ability to vote, violating their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. [MORE]