AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — 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.
They also point out that the bill aims to ban innovations made by Harris County to make voting more widely available to people. During the 2020 election, the county, which is home to Texas's largest city, Houston, implemented 24-hour and drive-through voting and saw a significant increase in ballots cast.
“In response to this increase in civic participation, the Texas Legislature has passed an omnibus elections bill targeting many of the precise methods that local election authorities and community groups have used to make voting easier and more accessible to traditionally marginalized voters,” the complaint reads.
The San Antonio case furthers this, noting that the bill's provisions regarding poll watchers will lead to more voter intimidation. “[SB 1] gives poll watchers ‘free movement’ to intimidate and harass voters and poll workers by expanding watchers’ authority, while constraining election administrators’ ability to ensure peaceful, orderly elections under penalty of criminal prosecution,” the groups said in their complaint.
Both complaints also address what they see as a lack of reasonable cause for the legislation to exist. Abbott and Republicans in Texas have long argued that Senate Bill 1 is needed to stop voter fraud, ballot harvesting and illegal voting despite election officials from the Secretary of State's Office saying that the last election was safe and secure.
Plaintiffs in the San Antonio case wrote, “there is simply no evidence that voter fraud occurs in Texas beyond the very few examples already identified through Texas’s pre-existing processes and procedures.”
Without evidence of widespread voter fraud, plaintiffs in both cases argue that the goal is to suppress votes and solidify Republicans' control over the state in an ever-changing Texas that is becoming less white and Republican. During the debate on SB 1, Democrats and civil rights groups argued this exact point. They believe that voter suppression is the primary tool Republicans are using to limit populations that vote Democratic from being counted.
Governor Abbott has yet to sign SB 1, but lauded its passage in a statement, saying, “Senate Bill 1 will solidify trust and confidence in the outcome of our elections by making it easier to vote and harder to cheat. I look forward to signing Senate Bill 1 into law, ensuring election integrity in Texas."
States like Georgia and Florida passed similar laws earlier this year, tightening voter access. The Georgia law has been challenged by the Department of Justice for similar reasons listed in the lawsuits against SB 1.
The Austin and San Antonio cases were filed by groups representing the interest of Asian-American, Mexican-American, and African-American communities in Texas. Other groups include disability, low-wage workers and immigrant rights groups, most notably, The Anti-Defamation League Austin, the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas and the League of Women Voters of Texas.
Grace Chimene, President of the League of Women Voters of Texas, said in a statement, “For democracy to work, it must include all voices. SB 1 is an extremist anti-voter bill that raises even more barriers to voting and specifically targets vulnerable communities, especially voters with disabilities, voters of color, and elderly voters.”
Since the regular legislative session when lawmakers first introduced an elections bill, many of these same groups testified against it raising similar concerns listed in their complaints. The ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project were both vocal opponents to SB 1 and now they are representing plaintiffs in the Austin case. Similarly, attorneys from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Brennan Center for Justice are representing plaintiffs in the San Antonio case.
Senate Bill 1 has been a controversial fixture in Texas politics. A similar bill, Senate Bill 7, was killed during the regular session when House Democrats broke quorum. Their action led to the governor calling for the first special session and naming “election integrity” as an agenda item for lawmakers.
At the beginning of the first special session, Democrats staged a second quorum break and traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress and the Biden administration to enact federal voting rights legislation to curtail Republicans' efforts back in Texas. Upon ending their quorum break, lawmakers moved quickly to pass SB 1, successfully doing so earlier this week.
Once signed by Governor Abbott, SB 1 will take effect in December just before the 2022 midterm elections begin in earnest.
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