Federal Judge Shuts Down Key Texas Election Integrity Laws

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A federal judge continues to block enforcement of Texas election integrity laws.

District Judge Xavier Rodriguez issued an order Friday permanently enjoining state and county officials from investigating or prosecuting alleged violations of “voter assistance” provisions of Senate Bill 1, a comprehensive election integrity measure passed by the Texas Legislature in 2021.

The judge determined that several provisions of SB 1 targeted by voter assistance activists are preempted by Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which allows a voter who requires assistance due to a disability or inability to read or write to be assisted by a person of the voter’s choice, other than a person from the voter’s employer or union.

Plaintiffs allege that S.B. 1’s new disclosure requirements (§§ 6.01, 6.03, 6.05, 6.07), modifications to the oath of assistance (§ 6.04), ban on compensated assistance (§ 6.06) and in-person canvassing restriction (§ 7.04) subvert the protections of Section 208 by narrowing the class of eligible assistors, requiring voters to take additional steps as a prerequisite to receiving assistance, and deterring voters from requesting—and assisters from providing—assistance in the voting process.

The plaintiffs include a long list of nominally non-partisan civil rights and social advocacy groups in Texas whose members routinely assist voters by transporting them to the polls and/or helping them complete their mail-in or in-person ballots.

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