article: <b>NOTE: This case is being tracked in close to real time by the Stanford/MIT Healthy Elections Project. So for more current information, see <a href="https://healthyelections-case-tracker.stanford.edu/"> their tracker</a>.</b> COVID-19 Summary: On May 11, 2020, the Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and six individuals filed this lawsuit against the Texas Secretary of State, challenging the constitutionality of the laws restricting vote by mail. No outcome yet. <hr> On May 11, 2020, the Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and six individuals filed this lawsuit against the Texas Secretary of State, challenging the constitutionality of the laws restricting vote by mail. The plaintiffs brought this lawsuit as a declaratory action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201-02, and as an injunctive action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the current vote by mail system was in violation of the plaintiffs' First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Fourth Amendment rights. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the requirement that voters pay for the postage to return their early voting ballots by mail, the postmark requirements for the ballots, the requirement that voters must submit two handwriting samples that “match” in order to have their early voting ballots counted, and the criminalization of a person assisting a voter in returning a marked mail ballot denied the plaintiffs equal protection and procedural due process, and violated the prohibition on poll tax. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring the defendants to provide prepaid postage on the ballot carrier envelopes used to return the marked mail-in ballots to the counties and enjoining them from rejecting vote-by-mail ballots if those ballots were postmarked by 7:00 p.m. on election day and received by the county election administrator before it canvased the election and from implementing, enforcing, or giving any effect to the Voter Assistance Ban. They further sought to enjoin the defendants from rejecting mail-in ballots on signature verification grounds, and sought an injunction requiring the defendants to provide voters the opportunity to cure any issues with signature verification before their ballots are rejected. This lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, and assigned to Judge Orlando L. Garcia. The plaintiffs were represented by private attorneys. The defendants moved to dismiss the case on June 3, arguing that the sovereign immunity bars plaintiffs’ claims, that the plaintiffs lack standing and that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim. The case is ongoing.
summary: On May 11, 2020, the Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and six individuals filed this lawsuit against the Texas Secretary of State, challenging the constitutionality of the laws restricting vote by mail. No outcome yet.