Judge dismisses fraud case against Texas man who waited seven hours to vote
A Texas judge has dismissed voter fraud charges against Hervis Rogers, the Houston man who drew national attention – and praise – for waiting seven hours in line to vote in the March 2020 presidential primary.
Rogers, who is Black, became a symbol of tenacity when news of the circumstances surrounding his voting experience surfaced. He stuck around – despite working two jobs, including one beginning at 6am – and was among the last, potentially the last, Texas resident to vote, according to KERA news.
“I wanted to get my vote in, voice my opinion,” he said to a local ABC affiliate. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I waited it out.”
But Republican Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, ordered Rogers’ arrest in July 2021, for casting a ballot while on parole. Rogers became one of the dozens of voters nationwide swept up by heightened GOP efforts to pursue election fraud cases; while many Republicans insist there is widespread voting fraud, there is no evidence to support this claim, according to the Associated Press.
This prosecution did not succeed, however. The state’s court of criminal appeals said on several occasions that Paxton did not have the authority to unilaterally prosecute voting crimes, according to the Texas Tribune. The judge’s decision earlier this week to dismiss two illegal voting counts against Rogers comes more than one year after the appeals court repeated their position, the news outlet stated.
“I am thankful that justice has been done,” Rogers reportedly commented. “It has been horrible to go through this, and I am so glad my case is over. I look forward to being able to get back to my life.”
Rogers had been on parole since 20 May 2004 following a 1995 prison conviction for burglary. His parole was scheduled to end on 13 June 2020, according to Houston Public Media.
Under Texas law, knowingly casting a ballot while on probation or parole is a second-degree felony, carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Rogers maintains that he didn’t know about his ineligibility, the Texas Tribune said.
Since Paxton assumed office in 2015, most of the people his office has prosecuted for voter fraud have been persons of color. The American Civil Liberties Union found that a minimum of 72% of these election fraud cases were against Black and Latino persons, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The ACLU analysis also found that at least 45% of these cases were against Black and Latino women.
Rogers’ court victory this week is not the only high-profile legal setback for Republican-led election fraud cases. A Miami judge on Friday dismissed two felony counts against Robert Lee Wood, who was recently arrested in a crackdown led by Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Florida prosecutors alleged that Wood, who is Black, was ineligible to vote due to a 1991 felony conviction. Wood – who was approached by a voter-registration canvasser, and subsequently sent a registration card – said he didn’t know about his ineligibility.
Florida officials said they would
fight the judge’s decision.
“Given that elections violations of this nature impact all Florida voters, elections officials, state government, and the integrity of our republic, we continue to view the Florida office of statewide prosecution as the appropriate agency to prosecute these crimes,” Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis spokesman, commented in a statement. “The state will continue to enforce the law and ensure that murderers and rapists who are not permitted to vote do not unlawfully do so. Florida will not be a state in which elections are left vulnerable or cheaters unaccountable.”
“We believe this was an incorrect analysis of jurisdiction and OSP will appeal,” the statewide prosecutor, Nicholas Cox, said in a statement.