Posted on 11/06/2006 11:29:52 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
McALLEN — Just as quickly as politiqueras could breathe a sigh of relief last week, the rug was pulled out from under them.
A federal injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday ordered Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office to immediately cease enforcing a piece of election law that criminalizes people who handle or possess others’ mail-in ballots.
But the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the preliminary injunction against the AG on Friday, and now politiqueras can still be prosecuted for merely possessing someone’s mail-in ballot.
Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro, for one, is relieved for the overturned injunction. She is a proponent of the law who says reform like this is needed to prevent political operatives from “vote harvesting” from the elderly and disabled.
“We’ve had a lot of problems with mail-in ballots,” she said.
Yet, the plaintiffs in the September lawsuit that spurred the injunction say they aren’t backing down anytime soon. They say that the law Abbott’s office is enforcing — which is based on 2003 legislation a Dallas Democrat authored — violates minorities’ constitutional rights. A politiquera is a paid or unpaid political helper commonly associated with minority communities.
Under the law, if a politiquera is caught in possession of mail-in ballots that don’t belong to their relatives or roommates, he or she can be prosecuted.
“Greg Abbott has abused this technicality in the law,” said Amber Moon, spokeswoman for the Texas Democratic Party, about the Republican, who is up for re-election Tuesday. He is instilling fear and intimidation into certain communities, dissuading a minority democratic population from voting, Moon said.
“The Texas Democratic Party opposes real voter fraud,” she said. “But these people (who got indicted by the AG) are well-meaning citizens. This is a practice that has gone on for years. There’s the distinction.”
Twelve of the 13 people Abbott has indicted for improper mail-in ballot handling in the three years since the law went into effect are Black or Hispanic. All have a Democratic voting history.
The appeals court, however, said the law doesn’t totally deny classes of people from voting. The law — which states that ballots under suspicion of being illegally handled by a politiquera can be tossed out — only threatens to disqualify the ballot if it appears fraudulent.
Locally, the tight May 2005 McAllen mayoral race sparked controversy around politiqueras when candidate Ric Godinez received a staggering 80 percent of the early mail-in vote. The Hidalgo County Elections Department had received several formal complaints about questionable election practices involving one well-known politiquera.
Ten people were eventually indicted by a Hidalgo County grand jury, but District Attorney Rene Guerra dismissed charges against two of them — Joey Lopez and Othal Brand Jr. — the day after he won re-election this March, citing a lack of evidence. And the other cases of voter fraud have not yet been resolved.
Navarro said the law at hand is intended to fix the problem of election rigging without punishing the voter for needing assistance. Presumably, if the politiquera puts his or her name on the mail-in ballot envelope — which is required — that person is held accountable for assisting.
She said the AG investigators do not target innocent people. There are good political helpers and then are the bad apples, she said. The elections office has never had a problem with the well-meaning ones.
Guerra, too, said he supports honest politiqueras just trying to get out the vote and doesn’t condone voter fraud.
But he does feel the election law targeting politiqueras hurts the elderly vote.
Imagine an 80-year-old confronted by a law enforcement officer with a gun holstered in his belt asking questions about a vote. Voters can get intimidated or confused, he said, and an innocent politiquera would be up for a grand jury investigation.
People may simply consider helping voters cast their ballots “innocent protected activity,” he said.
Indeed, the appeals court did note that the law appears to be “the state’s overly broad criminalization of conduct intended to assist disabled voters.”
However, the plaintiff’s claim that the law intimidates people from helping elderly or disabled voters from casting a ballot for fear of prosecution is “speculative,” the court said. And it ruled that Tuesday’s election should proceed without any major changes.
A federal court will hear the case at a later date.
Cari Hammerstrom covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4424. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.
Innocent politiquera is an oxymoron.
Politiquera Ping!
To be eligible to vote early by mail in Texas, you must:
-> be 65 years or older;
-> be disabled;
-> be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance; or
-> be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.
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