SAN ANTONIO — Harris County elections officials are suing the state over Texas’ controversial voting bill, SB1, alleging the legislation violates the First Amendment and restricts eligible voters from receiving information about mail-in ballots.
The lawsuit, filed in December, requests a preliminary injunction on a provision of SB1 that criminalizes election workers for soliciting and encouraging mail-in voting. On Friday evening, just three days before early voting begins, a federal district judge in San Antonio agreed to grant the injunction.
Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria is among the two plaintiffs in the case who testified during the court proceeding presided by U.S. District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez.
Longoria shared how the Harris County Elections office fielded 8,000 calls in January. She said 5,000 of the calls were from residents inquiring about mail-in ballots. Several of these phone conversations had to stop short because Longoria because she feared potential criminal prosecution.
Solicitation of mail-in voting information could mean incarceration with up to six months behind bars and thousands of dollars in fines, per the language laid out in SB1 and reiterated by the plaintiff’s counsel.
Longoria expressed fears of criminal prosecution and the impacts on future job prospects had someone reported her for encouraging mail-in voting.
In his ruling, Rodriguez wrote, in part, that "the public interest is not served by Texas' enforcement, whether through civil or criminal penalties," of those two provisions.
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee emphasized his support for the preliminary junction to be granted during a press conference Friday afternoon, before Rodriguez issued his ruling.
“We hope if it's granted, it will send a signal, not just to the Attorney General’s office, but to folks throughout the State of Texas, to think twice before trying to prosecute or criminalize election workers for simply doing their job and encouraging people to vote by mail if they’re eligible to do so,” Menefee said.
Mail-in ballot applications must be received by your county’s early voting clerk by Feb. 18.
