GOP coalition seeks to block vote extension
A coalition of Republicans, including Texas GOP Chairman Allen West and six state lawmakers, are joining activist Stevenhotze in asking thetexas Supreme Court to blockgov. Greg Abbott from extending the early voting period by a week during the pandemic.
Abbott, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, made the move through an executive order as a way to cut down on long lines at the polls and make voting safer, a step he’d also taken for the July primary runoffs. The late July executive order also gave voters more time to turn in completed mail-in ballots in person to the early voting clerk’s office by allowing drop-off during the early voting period. Usually, dropping off mail-in ballots
Democrats, who say the suit is an attempt to suppress the vote in November elections, were quick to condemn the suit.
is only allowed on Election Day.
In the 40-page petition filed Wednesday, the Republicans wrote that the extension was unlawful because the Texas Election Code defines the early voting periods as “the 17th day before election day … through the fourth day before election day,” and the time for in-person submission of mail-in ballots as “only while the polls are open on election day.” The petition seeks to force Secretary of State Ruth Hughs to stick to the timelines in the law.
Hotze has filed a number of lawsuits aimed at Abbott’s COVID-19 emergency orders. In the early voting suit, he again alleges that Abbott does not have the authority, even during a disaster, to suspend laws through executive order. Instead, he says, Abbott should have convened the Legislature.
“If ever a special session was justified, now is the time,” the petition states. “Abbott’s executive orders are unprecedented and have had life and death implications, destroyed small businesses and family’s livelihoods, have had a crippling effect on every single community, and now have the ability to impact local, state and national elections. As long as this court allows it to occur, one person will continue to unilaterally make these decisions under the guise of an unconstitutional statute.”
The lawmakers involved in the suit are state Sens. Charles Perry and Pat Fallon and state Reps. Bill Zedler,
Cecil Bell, Jr., Steve Toth and Dan Flynn. Also joining the suit are former state Reps. Matt Rinaldi, Rick Green and Molly White; Harris County Republican Party Chairman Keith Nielson; and several other candidates and Republican group leaders.
The suit follows a similar one filed in state district court in Travis County by Republican candidates Bryan Slaton, who is running for a Texas House seat, and Sharon Hemphill, running for district judge in Harris County.
While Hotze’s suits have been unsuccessful in cutting away at Abbott’s emergency powers thus far, the Texas Supreme Court has shown some sympathy for his argument against Abbott’s executive power, which Wednesday’s petition cited.
“If we tolerate unconstitutional government orders
during an emergency, whether out of expediency or fear, we abandon the Constitution at the moment we need it most,” Justice Jimmy Blacklock wrote in a May 5 concurring opinion on a petition related to local coronavirus shutdown orders.
Democrats, who say the suit is an attempt to suppress the vote in November elections, were quick to
condemn the suit and Republicans involved in it.
“We should be expanding early voting and vote by mail options not cutting them,” said Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman. “We support voters having every opportunity to vote and have been fighting for those options the entirety of the pandemic — and the decades before that.”