Texas, like other states, has complicated voting laws.
Too complicated for ordinary people to understand. But that’s no excuse. If you vote — or even attempt to vote — in Texas by mistake, you can go to prison for years. But only if you’re black.
First there was the case of Crystal Mason, a black woman who, under Texas’ byzantine election laws, apparently wasn’t eligible to vote (or so the Republican prosecutor claims). She did not, in fact, vote. A pollworker advised her to cast a provisional ballot, which is authorized and perfectly legal under federal law, which was not counted. The Republican prosecutor wants to lock her up for 5 years for that.
Now, there’s another case — that of Hervis Earl Rogers, age 62. He did vote, in 2018 and 2020, waiting hours in line to do so. (White people don’t have to wait hours in line to vote in Texas.) Republican voting vigilantes want to throw him in prison, too.
“Rogers did not know that he was voting illegally, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, who is representing Rogers, told
CNN Friday. Andre Segura, ACLU Texas’ legal director, told CNN that Rogers fully believed that he was legally eligible to vote,”
CNN reported on Sunday, July 11, 2021 (read story
here).
We’re not talking about 30 days in jail, but years in prison. Fifty times the jail time many of the violent insurrectionists who attacked our nation’s capital and tried to overthrow our elected government, assaulting and injuring over 100 cops in the process, will get — some will get no jail time at all. But only if they’re black. In Texas, white people who vote by mistake when they’re not eligible won’t go to prison for years.
This is terrorism, pure and simple. It’s deliberate. It’s intended to make all black people living in Texas afraid to vote. By making them think that if any little thing goes wrong — they were deregistered without their knowledge (something else Republicans like to do to black people), or vote in the wrong precinct (because the precinct lines were moved) — they could go to prison. For years. The purpose of all this is to terrify black voters into staying home on election day, and many will.
Texas Republicans are terrorists.
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Even in Texas it is not that complicated. Know what prescient you are in and the location of the polling place and go vote. Million of Texans did that of all races, parties and genders. Every state will throw a person in prison for years for voting illegally. Statistically you have listed only two instances of individuals being charged. Which only shows voter fraud is rare. How many people have been charged in Texas in the past 5 years with some sort of voter fraud and what are the overall demographics? What are the prosecutors success rate?
Overall it appears voters in Texas are intelligent enough to figure out how to go vote and do so. States do need to punish or prosecute those who vote illegally and due process so those who believed they could vote do not go to prison.
“Every state will throw a person in prison for years for voting illegally.” That’s not true. “Statistically you have listed only two instances of individuals being charged. Which only shows voter fraud is rare.” Don’t let Republicans hear you say that, because this undermines their argument for restricting voting access. But voting fraud has nothing to do with it; it’s voter suppression. And in any case, after supporting the Capitol rioters, urging legislatures to overrule the voters, and refusing to recognize election results, Republicans have zero credibility on election integrity. Finally, these two individuals are guilty of no crime, they were merely confused, given wrong information, and/or made a mistake. Sending two black people who didn’t know they were ineligible, one of whom didn’t even vote, to prison is intended to frighten other black voters from the polls. That goes beyond voter suppression; singling out these random individuals for draconian treatment to frighten others has the classic hallmarks of terrorism, is racist, and is evil.