Months-long investigation findings sent to Texas Secretary of State today
Texas Border Business
Austin, Texas — Today, the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) sent a letter to Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs regarding numerous Texas counties’ continued noncompliance with the Texas Election Code, primarily their failure to provide the minimum number of polling locations required by law.
Read the letter HERE.
TCRP attorneys analyzed data each county supplied to the United States Election Assistance Commission for 2018 and found at least 180 to 270 fewer polling places than required under the law in at least 33 counties.
It is the duty of the Secretary of State to help counties navigate the Election Code and facilitate compliance with the law. During the course of the investigation, TCRP found several counties that had not received guidance from the Secretary of State and even some counties that, when pointed to their noncompliance, apparently intend to continue violating the law.
“It is disappointing that so many counties across our state are failing to comply with the Texas Election Code. At the end of the day, voters suffer the consequences, in the form of long lines or even flat out disenfranchisement,” said Zachary Dolling, staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project and author of the letter. “The Secretary of State’s failure to oversee these counties and to ensure their compliance with Texas law is just one more in a long string of failures.”
As counties grapple with implementing plans to protect voters from COVID-19 in the upcoming Run-Off Elections and the General Election, studies have shown that too few polling locations put voters at heightened public health risk.
The letter states: “Increased numbers of polling places allows for greater social distancing, shorter lines, and fewer people at each polling place, all of which mitigate the spread of the virus.”
The letter provides a road map for the Secretary to review and monitor the violations of the specific counties identified by the Texas Civil Rights Project, listed below, as well as suggestions to monitor and prevent such violations statewide in the future. Suggestions include the issuance of a statewide election compliance advisory, compliance monitoring, oversight, and if necessary, legal action against those not in compliance with Texas law.
According to the letter, these counties have pledged to come into compliance by November 2020: Angelina, Bastrop, Brazoria, Collin, Denton, Dallam, Howard, McLennan, Nacogdoches, Presidio, San Patricio, Smith, and Somervell Counties.
These counties are likely to continue to violate the Election Code—even after being notified by TCRP: Aransas, Bowie, Caldwell, Cameron, Coke, Comal, Cooke, Galveston, Hardin, Hidalgo, Johnson, Lubbock, Montgomery, Rockwall, Washington, and Wilbarger Counties.
These counties were only recently contacted, and may not have had adequate time to respond about plans to come into compliance with the Election Code: Maverick and Starr Counties.
 sent a letter to Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs regarding numerous Texas counties’ continued noncompliance with the Texas Election Code, primarily their failure to provide the minimum number of polling locations required by law.){kind=link}