Posted on 09/30/2024 12:15:09 PM PDT by BigFreakinToad
A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech.
The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, 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 by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Before today’s ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers could spend up to ten years in prison and fined up to $10,000 for giving or offering these services.
Paxton on Monday vowed to appeal the ruling.
“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 said.
According to Republican lawmakers, the provision was put in place to prevent voter fraud and secure election integrity. However, in the ruling, the judge noted that there was widespread confusion about how to implement the canvassing restriction from local election administrators. This confusion also left voter outreach organizations uncertain about whether they could provide volunteers with food or bus fare because it could look like compensation.
Many organizations – including La Union del Pueblo Entero, LULAC, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund – have filed lawsuits against many other provisions of the law, including voter assistance and mail-in ballot restrictions. The challenges to these provisions have not been ruled on yet. The original complaints were filed in August and September 2021.
Before the law, organizations like OCA-Greater Houston, an advocacy organization for people of Asian and Pacific Island descent, would host in-person election events and allow attendees to bring their mail-in ballots in order to receive help like language assistance.
Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at MALDEF, wrote that “Today’s ruling means that voter outreach organizers and other advocates in Texas can speak to mail ballot voters about issues on the ballot and urge voters to support improvements to their communities.”
ACLU of Texas celebrated the ruling on X saying, “This is a win for voting rights in the state, and for the organizations that help keep elections accessible.”
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It is SO nice to know some conservative, somewhere, is doing something useful against the Liberal Complex.
More of John Roberts’ finest.
Yup...the Invader dictates the terms of surrender to the Invaded.
Ju won’t stop us, Greengo! We gonna RULE ju!
Off to the Fifth Circuit...
Appointed by George W. Bush. That says more than his name does.
yep, as one local ad for hispanic heritage month states, “we need more people that look like me to get elected and govern”
Govern my @$$
First amendment?! What BS! There’s no first amendment violations here at all.
Ignore the ruling.
Republicans should dispatch similar “harvestors” into heavily democrat areas and collect as many ballots as possible. The ballots should be promptly delivered to the tabulating agency sometime around Jan 7, 2025
So the government actually wants to do something “for the people” and “integrity” and a federal judge says they can’t do it?
First amendment right does not apply to noncitizens nor does any amendment in the Bill of Rights.
Yes.
So exactly who is supposed to investigate voter fraud?
The Federal Government’s job is to destroy America.
Prove me wrong.
Do it anyway.
Agree, ignore them
Resist🤣
How does this even enter into the equation?
They aren’t even trying to disguise their crimes anymore.
They are either very confident they’ll get away with it or very desperate to cling to power, or both.
yes.
yours: “It is SO nice to know some conservative, somewhere, is doing something useful against the Liberal Complex”
mine:
yes, maybe in Zimbabwe?
In America, where a democratic constitution has already been established, the communists must make the common cause with the party which will turn this constitution against the bourgeoisie and use it in the interests of the proletariat …The unconstitutional federal bureaucracy’s “job” is to destroy the USA. The federal government was not originally so, but then along came the 16th and 17th Amendments (properly ratified?) that introduced the second plank of communism (“a heavy progressive or graduated income tax”) and removed state government representation in the federal government thus increasing centralization exponentially.
— The Principles of Communism, #25
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