TEXAS — A group of voting rights organizations and two Texas voters are suing Gov. Greg Abbott and the State of Texas for limiting the number of drop off points for mail-in and early ballots to one per county.
The suit claims that by restricting the drop-off points, voters will face even more obstacles to vote.
Abbott on Thursday issued a proclamation limiting the number of mail-in and absentee ballot drop off locations to one per county. The governor said the move was made to ensure “ballot security protocol,” particularly during the COVID-19 epidemic.
The suit was filed Friday in Austin by the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Texas chapter of the League of Women Voters. Two voters, Ralph Edelbach, 82, of Cypress and Barbara Mason, 71, of Austin, were also on the suit as plaintiffs.
Democrats immediately sounded the alarm about the governor’s proclamation, saying it amounted to voter suppression by making it harder for those casting mail-in or absentee votes to submit their ballots.
The lawsuit challenging Abbott’s decision comes as one of the nation’s oldest, nonpartisan civil rights organizations issued a stern warning against what it said was an increase in concerns about widespread voter intimidation and suppression across the country ahead of the Nov. 3 vote.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said in a press conference Friday that it was concerned about comments made by Pres. Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, in which Trump called the increase in mail-in ballots because of the pandemic in the U.S. a “disaster” and urged his supporters to “to go into the polls and watch very carefully.”
Trump also refused to denounce white supremacy when asked by the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, and instead said that one group of vigilantes, the Proud Boys, should “stand back and stand by.” Trump said the election would “not end well.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracts white supremacy groups and racial-based violence, has labeled the Proud Boys a hate group for spreading ideologies of racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and bigotry, among other things.
On Thursday night, two days after the Sept. 30 debate, Trump in a phone interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News gave what seemed to be his strongest condemnation of white supremacy groups.
“I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that,” he said.
The White House announced late Thursday night that Trump and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There is no evidence to support the claim that mail-in ballots are at risk of being fraudulent or manipulated. Last week, Christopher A. Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation told Congress that there was no “coordinated national voter fraud effort,” in the U.S.
“We are deeply concerned about the chilling effect that President Trump's statements may have on the electorate,” said Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, during a telephone press conference.
The laws on poll watchers vary by state. In Texas, poll watchers must be certified and meet criteria set out by the Secretary of State. Both the Democrats and the Republicans will have poll watchers in polling stations across the state this year as in every other year.
“The Republican Party of Texas and its many partners are recruiting poll watchers across the state and expect to have a robust system in place to provide transparency and accountability throughout the election process,” Texas GOP communications director Luke Twombly, said in an emailed statement this week. “As everyone knows, sunshine is the best disinfectant, and that includes the electoral process.”
Trump’s comments urging his supporters to become poll watchers have raised concerns with voting rights groups of voter intimidation, particularly in the wake of his call for the Proud Boys.
Clarke said with the increased presence of armed militia groups at protests across the country, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was concerned “that these activities may migrate and move next to our nationals polling cites.”
“These dynamics have created a dangerous threat to democracy,” Clarke said.
When asked about Texas’ decision to limit the number of drop-off locations for ballots, Clarke said Texas was “ground zero when it comes to voter suppression in our country.
“At every turn, Texas has worked to make it harder for people to vote, especially during this pandemic,” she said. Clarke included that the state’s ruling this year that the fear of catching COVID-19 could not be considered a valid reason for voting by absentee ballot in that state in her assessment of Texas’s record.
“This is part of a part of a long-standing pattern that we have seen with state officials in Texas,” Clarke added.
The Lawyers’ Committee was founded in 1963 by Pres. John F. Kennedy as a nonpartisan civil rights organization that has a network of more than 20,000 lawyers working to voting rights, among other national issues. The organization runs the Election Protection and the national hotline to report voting irregularities.