Democrats sue Texas for rejecting thousands of voter registration apps submitted online
National and Texas Democrats sued the state Monday for tossing thousands of voter registration applications over electronic signatures, in their latest legal challenge to the state’s voting laws ahead of the 2020 election.
In a federal lawsuit filed Monday against Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs, the Texas Democratic Party, along with the Democratic campaign arms of the U.S. House and Senate, alleged that the state violated both federal and state laws when the Secretary of State’s Office instructed county registrars to reject over 2,400 voter registration applications five days before the registration deadline for the 2018 midterm election.
The applications in question were collected and submitted through Vote.org, a national nonprofit that aims to register people to vote and increase turnout.
At issue was the fact that Vote.org had instructed Texas applicants to take a photo of their signature, which was then uploaded and used to populate a paper form that was mailed to the appropriate county registrar. Over 2,400 Texans had submitted applications through the site.
However, at the time, the Secretary of State’s Office said the applications were invalid because applicants’ signatures were submitted digitally, rather than physically. Texas is one of 13 states that does not allow voters to register online.
“Any web site that misleadingly claims to assist voters in registering to vote online by simply submitting a digital signature is not authorized to do so. All Texas voters should be extremely cautious when handing over personal and sensitive information to any unknown third party,” former Secretary of State Rolando Pablos said in an October 2018 statement.
At the time, Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia told the Star-Telegram that he was not notified of any Tarrant County residents being affected.
Monday’s lawsuit alleges that rejecting applications based on an electronic signature has larger implications, and not only misapplies Texas Election Code, but also violates sections of the Civil Rights Act and First and Fourteenth Amendments by imposing “an undue burden on the right to vote.”
The lawsuit seeks to stop the state from requiring physical signatures — a practice known as the “wet” signature rule — and from rejecting voter registration applications for lacking one. In addition, the lawsuit seeks to give voters whose applications were previously rejected due to the signature requirement an opportunity to resubmit them.
A spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment Monday night.
“For years, Texas Republicans have used every trick possible to make it harder for Texans to vote and to steal elections away from the rising Texas electorate,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “Republicans know Texas is changing, that’s why they continue to enact arbitrary rulings such as banning lawful electronic signatures.”
What’s more, the lawsuit notes that when Texans renew their driver’s licenses or change their addresses with the Texas Department of Public Safety, their signatures can be entered on electronic keypads, which are then stored electronically and can be used to complete a voter registration form.
“The applicants do not review or complete this voter registration application, nor do they ever physically sign the application form,” the lawsuit reads. “And DPS has acknowledged that the information it transmits to the Secretary includes only a ‘digital image’ of the applicant’s signature taken from DPS forms.”
Monday’s lawsuit is the most recent in a string of legal challenges Democratic groups have brought against Texas ahead of the 2020 election. In October, a federal lawsuit alleged that a new state law that effectively bans “mobile” polling places disenfranchises young voters. The lawsuit specifically pointed to the fact that there will likely be no early voting locations at UT Arlington or at TCU in 2020.
And in November, the Texas Democratic Party and other national organizations sued the state over the order candidates appear on the ballot, arguing it has “mandated a systemic advantage to all Republican candidates in contested general elections for the last 24 years.”
“This challenge and the series of others we’ve taken to end burdens in our voting process reflect our commitment to making sure Texans can make their voices heard,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada and chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 6:28 PM.
