The voter suppression bill Senate Bill 1 has prompted another lawsuit, this one concerning an ignored request from the Texas Secretary of State over voter purges.
Last week a group of civil rights organizations including the ACLU and MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed a lawsuit with a U.S. District Court alleging that the Texas Secretary of State’s office has failed to produce documents relating to voter audits meant to ensure non-citizens are not voting, a provision of SB 1.
The request for those documents began last August. According to ABC 13, over 11,000 Texans have been identified as potentially non-citizens with these voter purges.
“Texas can’t shirk its obligations under federal law to release information about its new voter purge program,” said Ashley Harris, attorney at the ACLU of Texas, in a statement. “The public deserves to know why Texas continues to falsely flag U.S. citizens for removal from the voter rolls.”
Last year, Governor Greg Abbott appointed attorney John Scott as the Secretary of State of Texas, after Ruth Hughs announced she was leaving the office. Scott was part of a legal team working for Donald Trump as he was contesting the results of the Pennsylvania election (which Joe Biden won).
In 2019, immigrant and civil rights organizations successfully sued Texas over an attempted voter purge of over 90,000 Texans, many of whom had been recently naturalized. That attempted effort resulted in the Texas Secretary of State at the time, David Whitley, to resign.
A longtime writer and journalist, Jessica was thrilled to join the Texas Signal where she could utilize her unique perspective on politics and culture. As the Features and Opinion Editor, she is responsible for coordinating editorials and segments from diverse authors. She is also the host of the podcast the Tex Mix, as well as the co-host for the weekly SignalCast. Jessica attended Harvard College, is a onetime fitness blogger, and has now transitioned to recreational runner (for which her joints are thankful).
