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Travis County, which contains our state capital, has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the state of Texas of violating the National Voter Registration Act. This case could reach the Supreme Court; if it does, it could force a ruling on whether this and other states have been violating the act. It also could force Congress to determine whether it needs to revisit the issue of requiring states with a history of election interference, and require congressional preclearance before those states can pass new laws or implement new policies affecting their residents’ right to vote.
That requirement existed for states, including Texas, that made it more difficult for former slaves and ethnic minorities to cast ballots and thus compromised their rights of equal application of the law and representation in our seats of government.
In 2013, however, the Supreme Court invalidated that preclearance requirement. The court did not rule that such preauthorization isn’t needed; rather, it held that the metrics used to determine when states violated the act had become outdated, and Congress needed to update them.
Congress members simply haven’t done so.
Since then several states, including our own, have gone on a binge of legislation and other practices curtailing voting rights for specific groups. They include citizenship requirements that accept documentation of proof that can be so limited that they exclude many native-born Americans as well as naturalized citizens. Gerrymandered political districts have become even more commonplace — and more brazen. Voter rolls have been purged without justification.
Some previous lawsuits have reached the high court already. In many cases, however, the court’s conservative majority has ruled that the practices are permissible because they are intended to allow a majority party to reduce its opposition, not to injure racial minorities.
The court got it wrong. Discrimination against any group runs counter to our Constitution’s mandate of equal treatment of the laws. Oppression of a political minority is just as abhorrent — some might argue even more so — than oppression on the bases of ethnicity, gender, religion or any other classification.
Travis County’s lawsuit, however, addresses an action that affects all eligible voters. It is contesting state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent order prohibiting states from mailing out voter registration applications. Paxton filed a lawsuit against Behar County, home of San Antonio, seeking to force the county to stop the practice, but a state court dismissed the case.
With the Oct. 7 deadline for registration for the Nov. 5 presidential election fast approaching, the county should consider seeking the Supreme Court’s involvement sooner rather than later, seeking either a decision or injunction that stops any other anti-voting efforts at least until after the election. Afterward, they — and lawmakers — should revisit the issue of whether preclearance is once again needed, and work to set workable metrics for determining when states are violating citizens’ voting rights — and our Constitution.
