National, Texas Democrats file lawsuit to keep straight-ticket voting for 2020 election
This story has been updated to include comment from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
After some Texans waited more than six hours to cast their ballot on Super Tuesday, national and Texas Democrats filed a lawsuit Thursday to block a state law that would eliminate straight-ticket voting come November.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Laredo against Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs, the Texas Democratic Party, along with the Democratic campaign arms of the U.S. House and Senate, allege that the ending the practice will “unjustifiably and discriminatorily burden Texans’ fundamental right to vote,” in an 2020 election where historic turnout is anticipated.
The lawsuit argues that straight ticket voting “plays a critical role” and allows for voters to cast their ballots more efficiently when they can have dozens of races to make a decision on. Without it, voters will take longer to cast their ballots, and minority voters who live in the more densely populated areas of the state will be disparately affected, the lawsuit argues.
“In ending a century-old voting practice that Texans have relied on to exercise their most fundamental and sacred rights — the rights to political participation and association — Texas has recklessly created a recipe for disaster at the polls in 2020,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit argues the state law will violate tenants of the First, 14th and 15th amendments, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Texas Attorney General’s Office said in an email Thursday night that the office is reviewing the case.
“We remain confident that Texas voting laws are in full compliance with the Constitution and all voters have equal opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Kayleigh Date, a spokeswoman for the AG’s office, said in a statement.
Previously, voters in either the Republican or Democratic party could choose an option at the top of the ballot to allow each candidate belonging to their political party to automatically receive their vote.
But House Bill 25, which lawmakers passed in 2017, will eliminate that option in general elections, and requires voters to enter each vote manually instead. Set to go into into effect on Sept. 1, 2020, the November general election would be Texas’ first election in decades where voters wouldn’t have the “one-punch” option.
The lawsuit cited that in Texas’ 2018 general election, approximately two-thirds of voters — or more than 5.6 million Texans — took advantage of the option.
And it’s been widely used in Tarrant County elections, too, with nearly 450,000 local voters — including 246,991 Republicans and 193,139 Democrats — casting straight tickets in the 2016 election.
“The end of straight-ticket voting was yet another Republican attempt to suppress the vote, alter the electorate, and take away power from the rising Texas majority,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “In minority-majority districts, lines to vote have already proven to be hours long.”
In 2020, only seven states will permit straight-ticket voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Michigan, a push to keep straight-ticket voting was unsuccessful, with the Supreme Court denying a request to preserve it in 2018.
Thursday’s lawsuit is the most recent in a string of legal challenges Democratic groups have brought against Texas ahead of the 2020 election.
In January, a federal lawsuit argued the Secretary of State’s Office violated federal and state law by tossing over 2,400 voter registration applications over electronic signatures in 2018.
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.”
And in October, a federal lawsuit alleged that a new state law that effectively bans “mobile” polling places disenfranchises young voters.
“Texas is the center of our battlefield and we will not stop taking on the obstacles Republicans put in place to shrink the electorate as they attempt to cling to power,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos said in a statement Thursday.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 5:51 PM.
