Advocates for voting rights filed a lawsuit in Texas on Friday to block a sweeping Republican-backed voting bill that critics argue will make it disproportionately harder for minorities to vote in the state.
The complaint, filed in San Antonio-based federal court, seeks “declaratory and injunctive relief to enforce the United States Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Americans with Disabilities Act” in an effort to counter Senate Bill 1, which features measures that conservative proponents argue will better secure the state’s elections in the future.
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“By law, the citizens of Texas all have the same right to vote, regardless of race or disability. But with S.B. 1, the Legislature is undermining equal access to the ballot box,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center for Justice, one of the groups behind the lawsuit.
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The lawsuit was also filed jointly with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, among other groups in opposition to S.B. 1, a slightly revised version of which advanced in both chambers of the Texas Legislature. The complaint names Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both of whom have championed the legislation, among the defendants.
“S.B. 1 will reduce voter participation and discriminate on the basis of race, and for those reasons, it should be struck down in court,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation.
A slightly modified version of the election bill passed the House on Aug. 26 and the Senate just days later, a triumph for Republicans after the legislation was stonewalled when Texas House Democrats fled the state earlier this summer.
Abbott is expected to sign the bill into law in the near future, saying on Aug. 31, “I look forward to signing Senate Bill 1 into law, ensuring election integrity in Texas.”
The measures included in the bill rolled back some of the pandemic-related voter accommodations put into place before the 2020 election, which allowed for drive-thru voting and round-the-clock voting, which was permissible in the city of Houston’s Harris County.
A controversial section of the bill would give more authority to partisan poll watchers, virtually allowing them greater access to all aspects of voting and ballot counting. Proponents argue the access is necessary to ensure transparent elections, but opponents of the new poll-watching rules say they could lead to voter intimidation and dissuade some vulnerable Texans from casting their ballots.
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Another part of the bill would require voters to provide their driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers on their application for mail-in ballots, mirroring a voting bill passed in Georgia earlier this year that demanded more robust voter identification measures.
Representatives for Abbott and Paxton did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
