August 3, 2012
JIM FORSYTH, WOAI NEWS RADIO
A federal judge in Texas late Thursday issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing most of a very controversial state law which restricted the activities of independent political action groups to register voters in the state after several groups claimed that the intent of the law was to suppress voter registration efforts in African American and Latino communities.
In a 94 page ruling, U.S. District Judge Costa in Galveston repeatedly cited restrictions in the law, which was passed by the Texas Legislature last year, which he said unfairly restrict the activities of what are called Volunteer Deputy Registrars, individuals who fan out to grocery stores, bus stops and other areas, to distribute and collect voter registration forms and file them with county elections officials.
“The Texas regime is restrictive, and uniquely so,” Costa wrote
Project Vote, a nonpartisan voter registration organization, sued, claiming that the eight restrictions on VDR’s included in the law violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“The organizational plaintiff’s communications are closely linked to the promotion of a free and robust political process, because what they are encouraging is the exercise of another right – the right to vote, which is a fundamental political right,” Costa wrote.
County and state officials argued that the rules, which prohibit VDR’s from other states from registering voters in Texas, restrict paying registrars based on the number of voters they register, and which severely restrict the photocopying of voter data, are needed to prevent voter fraud and, in the case of the photocopying restriction, to prevent the theft of personal information.
Costa’s ruling agrees to prevent the enforcement of five of the eight portions of the Texas law. He agreed to portions which require registrars to wear an identification badge, require them to complete a training course, and he refused to throw out a provision which makes it a misdemeanor offense for a registrar to submit a partially completed registration form.
In addition to the payment, out of state, and photocopying regulations, Costa specifically rejected a provision which limited registrars from only registering voters in the county in which they live.
The judge pointed out that there are 254 counties in Texas, and many Congressional Districts include several dozen counties.
“The county limitation, by requiring both registration and training in any county in which a potential VDR wishes to submit applications, thus imposes severe time burdens and administrative expenses on voter registration activity,” Costa wrote.
The fifth provision of the law which was placed on hold by Costa’s ruling is one that prohibits VDRs from mailing completed applications.
Costa did rule that voter registration groups may photocopy voter information, as long as it does not include confidential information. READ MORE