MALDEF Seeks to Stop Texas Voter ID Law
Texas law would disproportionately harm Latinos if approved
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Today, MALDEF filed legal papers opposing an attempt by the State of Texas to secure federal approval for its new Voter ID law. The intervention was filed on behalf of two Latino voters and two organizations that conduct voter registration and turnout campaigns in the Latino community: Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. The lawsuit by Texas seeks permission from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to impose identification procedures that discriminate against Latinos in Texas. The U.S. Department of Justice blocked Texas' Voter ID Law earlier this month on the grounds that the law disproportionately harms Latino voters. MALDEF has moved to intervene its clients in the case to defend the voting rights of Texas Latinos and to defend the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Just as Latinos gained two new congressional districts in redistricting, the State of Texas is trying to restrict the franchise,” stated Nina Perales, Vice President of Litigation at MALDEF and lead counsel in the intervention. “The new Texas voter ID law imposes real hardship on Latino voters by restricting the documents that today’s voters can use to prove their identity at the polls,” continued Perales
According to section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Texas is one of 16 states required to receive federal approval before changing voter laws, because of the State’s history of discriminating against minorities at the polls. This move comes on the heels of the recent Texas redistricting battle, in which MALDEF litigated successfully to secure two new congressional districts in which Latinos have the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice. MALDEF intends to ensure that Texas Latinos are able to realize that new power in November at the polls.
MALDEF Blocks Texas’ Discriminatory Voter-ID Law in Federal Court
Court Holds Texas Law Will Harm Minority Voters
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, a federal court in Washington DC issued a ruling in Texas v. Holder denying preclearance under the Voting Rights Act for Texas' proposed voter ID law. The court concluded that Texas was unable to show that its voter identification law was non-discriminatory. Moreover, the court found that the law will weigh more heavily on the poor and racial minorities in the state, which is likely to reduce minority voter strength overall. This is precisely what the Voting Rights Act was enacted to prevent. MALDEF along with other civil rights organizations intervened in the lawsuit — brought by Texas against attorney General Eric Holder – to defend the rights of minority voters.
After examining the law's discriminatory effect on minorities, the court further concluded that Texas' voter identification law was “the most stringent in the country.” While the court did not rule out all voter identification laws, the decision makes clear that voter identification laws must be flexible to ensure that all voters have a way to secure identification for the purpose of voting. This is a significant victory for Latino voters in Texas that underscores the continuing need for the Voting Rights Act.
Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated, “Democracy in Texas has a brighter future today as a result of this decision. The court saw through the obfuscation that characterizes so much of the policy debate around voter suppression measures that masquerade as efforts to target virtually non-existent voter fraud. The fact is that voter identification requirements impose real costs on democracy and specifically on voters whose views need to be valued and expressed in our democracy.”
MALDEF Vice President of Litigation Nina Perales, added, “The court found that Texas not only enacted the strictest voter ID law in the nation but also that the state legislature rejected amendments that would have lessened the burdens on voters, such as allowing voters to present student ID or Medicare ID cards. Today's decision demonstrates the continuing need for the Voting Rights Act to protect voters from discriminatory and onerous laws such as this.”
In the case, MALDEF represented the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Mi Familia Vota Educational Fund as well as Latino voters who lacked voter ID. This decision follows the August 28th ruling by a different federal panel in Texas v. United States denying preclearance under the Voting Rights Act to three Texas redistricting plans. Voter ID and redistricting are the two most significant voting laws that Texas has passed since 2003, and both have now been deemed discriminatory by federal courts.
MALDEF Demands Texas Counties Stop Providing False Voter ID Information
November 3, 2016
SAN ANTONIO, TX — MALDEF is demanding that election officials in Dewitt and Harris Counties, Texas stop providing false information about voter identification rules at polling places.
In letters sent Tuesday, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) noted that Dewitt County is using a large sign outside its early polling places that inaccurately states “photo ID required.” The sign is in direct violation of recently modified state rules that allow voters to cast a ballot without a photo ID if they can provide alternative identification documents and sign a declaration. In Harris County, poll workers are incorrectly announcing to voters that a photo ID is required to vote, according to a second letter.
“The apparently endemic Texas problems in complying with a clear directive not to require photo identification to vote demonstrates clearly that Texas is still not ready for prime time when it comes to the voting process,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “There is no clearer demonstration of the harm done when the Supreme Court relieved Texas from its pre-clearance obligation under the federal Voting Rights Act.”
MALDEF's letters come just days after attorneys successfully sued Bexar County officials for similar problems, including using outdated signs and inaccurate information at polling places, as well as on its website and election hotline. On Friday, a state court judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring Bexar County election officials to fix the problems.
“Just last week, the Texas Secretary of State sent an email to county election officials reminding them to make clear to voters that there are alternatives to showing photo ID for voters who lack photo ID,” stated Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation and lead counsel in the Bexar County case. “There is simply no excuse for poll workers who post or announce inaccurate information.”
At issue is the counties' implementation of Texas’ controversial 2011 photo voter identification law. This summer a federal court of appeals ruled that the law’s restriction of acceptable identification to one of seven government-issued photo IDs discriminated against minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Among other things, the law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not a college ID.
Texas was forced by court order to expand its list of acceptable IDs and create new signs for polling places to inform voters of the new identification requirements. Some Texas counties, however, continue to post the strict and invalid requirements in their polling places, according to MALDEF and recent news reports.
Harris County, which includes the City of Houston, is the third largest county in the United States by population. More than 40 percent of its residents are Latino, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
View the letter to Harris County Officials
View the letter to Dewitt County Officials
MALDEF Files Lawsuit in Texas Challenging Bexar County's Implementation of Illegal Voter ID Law
October 28, 2016
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Bexar County officials are illegally enforcing the Texas voter ID law struck down as racially discriminatory, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
The lawsuit, filed in state district court by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) on behalf of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), alleges that Bexar County has posted and announced false and unauthorized voter ID requirements in early voting polling places throughout the county, as well as in its recorded telephone message to voters and on its website.
“There is simply no excuse for continuing to display invalid requirements to vote at any polling place in Bexar County,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “The failure to take the simple expedient of removing and replacing the signs suggests a nefarious motive or patent incompetence; neither should be tolerated in this critical election.”
MALDEF is asking a state judge to order Bexar County to: remove the illegal voter ID signs and other materials and replace them with the signs promulgated by the Texas Secretary of State for this election; notify poll workers that they cannot display materials that contain the illegal requirements; and update its website and telephone hotline to make clear that voters who lack a government-issued photo ID can show alternative, non-photo ID.
“As turnout in Bexar County rises, voters are met with illegal voter ID signs,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation. “We will not sit idly by while Bexar County enforces an invalid and discriminatory voter ID law.”
At issue is the county’s implementation of Texas’ controversial 2011 photo voter identification law. This summer a federal court of appeals ruled that the law’s restriction of acceptable identification to one of seven government-issued photo IDs discriminated against minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Among other things, the law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not a college ID.
Texas was forced by court order to expand its list of acceptable IDs and create new signs for polling places to inform voters of the new identification requirements. Some Texas counties, however, failed to adopt the new rules and continue to post the strict and invalid requirements in their polling places.
Bexar is the fourth largest county in Texas, with more than 1 million registered voters. An estimated 60 percent of Bexar County’s population is Hispanic.
MALDEF Wins Court Order Requiring Bexar County Election Officials to Remove Illegal Voter ID Signs
October 28, 2016
SAN ANTONIO, TX — A state judge today ordered election officials in Bexar County, Texas to immediately remove all illegal voter ID signs from the early voting polling places and replace them with accurate information.
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed today by MALDEF seeking a temporary restraining order against county election officials.
Judge Michael Mery’s order requires Bexar County officials also to correct information on the county’s website and its voter hotline, as well as ensure that all 700 election day polling places post accurate signs informing voters of the expanded list of acceptable IDs.
“We applaud the court’s swift action to halt Bexar County’s use of incorrect voter ID requirements that deterred eligible voters from casting a ballot,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president for litigation and lead counsel in the case. “When a voter is turned away from the polls by illegal signs or poll worker announcements, or decides she cannot vote because the Bexar County website and voter hotline contain incorrect Voter ID information, that is voter suppression.”
MALDEF filed the lawsuit after its staff attorneys and volunteers documented that Bexar County officials were unlawfully enforcing the racially discriminatory voter ID law at early voting polling places.
Earlier this month, MALDEF found dozens of counties across Texas were violating the federal Voting Rights Act by failing to provide bilingual voting information on their websites, including information on polling places.
MALDEF Finds Dozens of Texas Counties are Violating Federal Law by Failing to Provide Bilingual Voting Information
October 6, 2016
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Dozens of counties in Texas are violating the federal Voting Rights Act by failing to provide bilingual voting information on their websites, including information on polling places, according to MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund).
“This is a critically important election for all voters,” stated Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel. “Elections officials should be facilitating participation by all eligible voters, including those who need bilingual assistance and whose right to that assistance is guaranteed by federal law.”
MALDEF began contacting county officials last week after attorneys found 36 counties failed to ensure that Spanish-language information, such as voter registration instructions and new procedures for voter ID, is displayed on official election websites.
Under Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, counties are required to provide bilingual election information if more than five percent of the population, or 10,000 voting age citizens, belong to a single language minority, have depressed literacy rates, and do not speak English very well.
“More than 850,000 Latino eligible voters live in Texas counties that haven't provided election information in Spanish,” stated Nina Perales, MALDEF Vice President of Litigation. “In a state as diverse as Texas, a bilingual website is a basic service to voters, not to mention a legal requirement.”
In a letter sent to counties, MALDEF noted that much of the required information “has already been translated into Spanish by the Texas Secretary of State” and can be shared on a county's website.
Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth and is the third most populous county in the state, is among those contacted by MALDEF. Just over 16 percent of Tarrant's 1.19 million eligible voters are Latino citizens.
Others on MALDEF's list include Hidalgo County, where 85 percent of eligible voters are Latino citizens, according to the U.S. Census.
Although officials in some jurisdictions have indicated that they will move to address the problem, MALDEF lawyers said they worry that a last-minute fix may come too late to ensure that all voters can access information on registration deadlines or the start of early voting in time for November's presidential election.
MALDEF's letter comes amid growing concerns over efforts to suppress minority voting in Texas. This summer a federal court of appeals struck down a 2011 Texas law that sought to impose strict voter ID requirements, finding the measure discriminated against minority and poor voters. The law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not college ID.
As of September 30, 2016, the list of counties that failed to provide bilingual voting information are as follows:
Titus County
Andrews County
Brewster County
Caldwell County
Frio County
Gonzales County
Guadalupe County
Karnes County
Kinney County
Medina County
San Saba County
Upton County
Val Verde County
Wilson County
Bee County
Calhoun County
Duval County
Hidalgo County
Jim Wells County
Kleberg County
La Salle County
Live Oak County
Nueces County
Willacy County
Zapata County
Cochran County
Dawson County
Deaf Smith County
Gaines County
Glasscock County
Lynn County
Moore County
Parmer County
Runnels County
Sherman County
Sutton County
Tarrant County
MALDEF Works in D.C. Court to Halt Restrictive Voter ID Law that Disenfranchises Latino Voters
Trial Begins This Week as MALDEF Attorneys Invoke Voter Rights Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Representing a coalition of community partners, MALDEF intervened in a federal lawsuit between Texas and the United States over Texas's passage of a discriminatory voter identification law that would keep minorities and others from exercising their right to vote.
According to the section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Texas is one of 16 states required to receive federal approval before changing voter laws because of the State’s history of discriminating against minorities at the polls.
The lawsuit by Texas seeks permission from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to impose identification procedures that discriminate against Latinos in Texas.
MALDEF has intervened to give a voice to two, 18-year-old Latina women who are registered to vote in Texas, but who lack the photo identification required under Texas's new law and so would not be able to exercise their right to vote if Texas’s law is upheld. MALDEF also represents two organizations that conduct voter registration and education campaigns, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, who are aware through their outreach of the disproportionate impact Texas’s voter identification law would have on the Latino community.
At trial this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, MALDEF Senior Litigator, Jorge Sanchez and MALDEF Legislative Staff Attorney, Luis Figueroa are representing the two Latina voters, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund.
Luis Figueroa stated, “The Texas Legislature overreached in an attempt to find a solution to a nonexistent problem. Thankfully the Voting Rights Act protects minority voters like our two young Latina voters from discriminatory laws like SB 14.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice blocked Texas' Voter ID law on the grounds that the law disproportionately harms Latino voters. MALDEF submitted a letter to the Department of Justice opposing pre-clearance of Texas' law.
Thomas A. Saenz stated, “In a time when we should be working to expand the franchise, Texas has enacted a law to deny some citizens the right to vote. MALDEF is proud to be working to stop this regressive measure.”
With the current lawsuit, Texas challenges the determination made by the U.S. Department of Justice. If Texas is successful before the U.S. District Court, Texas’s new law and its voter identification requirements will be in place for the 2012 elections.
Voter Protection Efforts
Across the country, MALDEF has been working hard to secure unfettered access to voter registration materials and to the polling booths for all U.S. citizens. Two recent victories came in the reauthorization of the federal Voting Rights Act and the rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court of gerrymandered Texas districts that diluted the votes of hundreds of thousands of Latinos.
MALDEF is a staunch advocate of voters’ rights. In recent years, it has fought against voter identification laws in both state legislatures. In the U.S. Supreme Court, and it has weighed in on a number of other proposed rules and regulations concerning elections, including laws that would prohibit the photocopying of voter registration applications and that would change vote-by-mail elections. MALDEF has also sought to enforce existing election laws and has called upon the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate charges of voter intimidation at the polls.
It is critical that the public know about their rights and responsibilities as voters. To this end, MALDEF has staffed election protection hotlines and information tables and ensured that important election information is translated into Spanish. On April 16, 2008, MALDEF’s D.C. office co-convened a roundtable discussion regarding legislative strategy to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford upholding Indiana’s voter identification law.
For the recent 2008 election cycle, each of the MALDEF regional and national offices devoted significant time and attention on voter protection before and during the November election. MALDEF had sent letters to election officials reminding them of their obligation to provide language assistance. MALDEF identified key states with high Latino citizen voting age populations, such as Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Arizona, and also identified areas of heavy concentration of Latino registered voters in each of those key states. MALDEF worked with other lawyers, law students, and community advocates to monitor election day activities and to ensure fair access to the polls. Our attorneys across the nation also participated in election protection hotlines including NALEO’s “Ve y Vota.”