Man, 62, accused of voting illegally is freed from jail

A Houston man was released from jail Saturday after he was accused of voting illegally while on parole when he waited six hours last year to cast a ballot in the 2020 primary elections, according to an organization that paid his bail.

Hervis Rogers, 62, had been held on $100,000 bail in Montgomery County before The Bail Project bailed him out, according to the organization and court records. His arrest coincided with the start of a special legislative session in which officials are expected to try to tighten Texas voting restrictions.

“Mr. Hervis’ situation is a textbook example of how these systems intersect to undermine our fundamental rights and target minorities,” Robin Steinberg, founder and CEO of The Bail Project, said in a statement.

An indictment filed last month in Montgomery County claims Rogers was still on parole for a 1995 burglary conviction when he voted in the March

2020 Democratic primary and the November 2018 general election.

Rogers believed he was eligible to vote, according to The Bail Project.

“He should not have been arrested and charged in the first place, and certainly should not have been forced to languish in jail on an outrageously high bail amount,” said Andre Segura, legal director of the ACLU of Texas, which is among the lawyers representing him. “This prosecution demonstrates the danger to Texan citizens when even innocent mistakes in the voting process can be criminalized.”