Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit watchdog that keeps tabs on voter suppression and civil rights issues, did not mince words about the long wait times seen in major counties on Super Tuesday.
“We reaped the rotten fruit of willful, selective neglect of voting infrastructure in Texas yesterday. And the impact was widespread voter suppression,” Mimi Marziani, president of Texas Civil Rights Project said in a statement.
“The Texas Secretary of State, county election officials, and the political parties failed voters in their most important job responsibility. Machines did not work, websites crashed, polling sites did not open, people who should have been on the registration rolls were not there, and students, people with disabilities, black, and brown voters waited in line for more than 7 hours to cast a ballot,” Marziani continued.
She said data collected on Super Tuesday shows the voting infrastructure in Black and Latino neighborhoods had the most severe breakdowns.
“The vast majority of voters’ issues were preventable, foreseeable and unacceptable,” Marziani said.
Photo: Edward A. Ornelas/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
