Federal Judge Orders Texas To Follow National Voter Registration Act; Opens Door To Online Voter Registration
Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Texas Democratic Party announced a major victory in their litigation to ensure Texas follows the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the state to immediately register three voters based on their online drivers’ license renewals with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The court’s order makes it clear that Texas is required to offer simultaneous voter registration and updates to voter registration with all driver’s license applications, renewals, and change of address transactions under the National Voter Registration Act. This ruling sets the stage for a full scale implementation of simultaneous voter registration at Texas’s DMVs.
“This ruling is an important step in the fight to undo Texas Republicans’ long-running crusade to suppress access to the ballot,” DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos said. “Protecting voting rights is critical to our democracy and central to our values. We’ll keep fighting to eliminate barriers to voting in Texas and in states across the country.”
“This ruling is a win for voters and good news for our democracy, and we will keep working to ensure these obstacles to participating in elections are removed in 2020,” said DSCC Chair Catherine Cortez Masto. “We are committed to fighting harmful policies that violate the law to make it harder for Texans to register to vote and make their voices heard at the ballot box.”
“Our voting rights are under attack. Texas Republicans have tried to game the system and erect barriers for eligible voters,” said Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa “From failing to register Texas voters online to aiding Republicans’ illegal voter purge, Texas DPS has been central to Republicans’ schemes to make voting harder.”
Thursday’s ruling is the latest DCCC and DSCC voting rights victory. Earlier this month, the state of South Carolina agreed to drop its requirement that South Carolinians register with their full nine-digit Social Security number. In December, the DCCC and DSCC won a lawsuit in Florida declaring Florida’s ballot order law unconstitutional. Additionally, one day after the DCCC and DSCC filed suit in North Carolina to re-instate the last Saturday of early voting, Republican lawmakers reversed course and met every demand outlined in the filing.
The DCCC and DSCC are making a combined eight-figure commitment to fighting Republican voter suppression in battleground states across the country and have filed lawsuits in eight states — including North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, and Minnesota. The South Carolina victory follows others in North Carolina, Michigan, and Florida.