A federal judge has struck down a section of Texas election law that critics said allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton the authority to try to “suppress” Hispanic and Latino voters.
In a Saturday ruling, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez halted the enforcement of canvassing restrictions legislation cited under Senate Bill 1 after ruling it was “unconstitutionally vague” and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The new Texas canvassing restrictions were put in place to crack down on alleged vote harvesting, where completed absentee and mail-in ballots are collected and delivered to polling places on behalf of those who cast them.
The legislation meant anyone found to have knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation would be committing a third-degree felony. Those working for political campaigns or even volunteers could potentially face a 10-year jail sentence for collecting completed absentee or mail-in voter ballots.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, on February 23, 2024. A judge has said Paxton can no longer conduct investigations of “vote harvesting” after ruling recent legislation too vague.
Mandel NGAN / AFP/Getty Images
Republican Party member Paxton was accused of using the law to carry out a series of raids on voting rights activists’ homes under the guise of investigating vote harvesting. The turnout of Latino and Hispanic voters, who historically tend to back Democratic candidates, will be crucial in determining who wins the presidential and statewide elections in Texas in November.
Gabriel Rosales, state director of Texas League of United Latin American Citizens [LULAC], accused the Republican attorney general in August of carrying out raids before November’s elections “to suppress the Latino vote through intimidation and any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies.”
Rodriguez noted in his ruling there has been “widespread confusion” about the wording of the canvassing restrictions, and how they could be enforced.
This includes what is meant by “compensation,” or how canvassers could avoid being in the “physical presence” of an absentee or mail-in ballot.
“Because ‘physical presence’ is not defined, Plaintiffs are unsure how physically proximate a ballot must be to a volunteer or employee to violate the Canvassing Restriction and risk exposure to a decade in prison,” Rodriguez wrote.
“Despite this confusion, state officials have not offered any definitive answers about the scope of the Canvassing Restriction.”
Newsweek has contacted Paxton’s office for comment via email.
The judge’s decision to halt the law allowing Paxton’s office to investigate alleged vote harvesting has been praised by advocacy groups and legal experts.
LULAC posted on X, formerly Twitter: “The decision strikes down as unconstitutional a main Texas statute that was used to try to intimidate Hispanic organizers & voters.
“For too long, certain politicians have used false claims to push abusive laws like this in campaigns of intimidation, and today’s decision blows a hole in those campaigns.”
Norm Eisen, who served as a special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during former President Donald Trump‘s first impeachment, described the ruling as the “most important election news” of the weekend.
“The courts are pushing back on Trump and his allies’ despicable campaign targeting Hispanic & migrant voters,” Eisen wrote.
The ACLU of Texas added: “This is a win for voting rights in the state, and for the organizations that help keep elections accessible.”
