The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) along with the Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League of South Texas, Texoma, and Austin sent a letter to the Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablo urging his office to provide notice to voter registrars and other relevant election officials throughout the state outlining and explaining the procedures for challenging a person’s eligibility to vote. Recently, approximately 4,000 registered voters in Harris County were challenged by True the Vote, an organization that has been accused of voter intimidation in the past. Some challenges were reportedly related to individuals who had registered to vote using churches and homeless shelters as their addresses, something that has been encouraged by Texas itself for voting purposes. State and federal laws provide several critical protections before a registrar can put a voter on a suspension/inactive list in response to a challenge, which help prevent voter eligibility challenges that lack basis. In particular, the challenger must make the substantial showing that he or she has personal knowledge of a voter’s ineligibility under oath. We believe that any effort to infringe or suppress the sacred right to vote undermines the legitimacy of our political system and we hope that the Texas Secretary of State’s office works in advance of this election season to protect against voter eligibility challenges that lack integrity and are conducted to suppress voting rights.
