Texans fearful of contracting the coronavirus can vote by mail, federal judge rules
By Meagan Flynn
May 20, 2020 at 7:09 a.m. EDT
A federal judge cleared the way on Tuesday for all Texas voters to seek a mail-in ballot should they be afraid of contracting the novel coronavirus at the polls, finding the state’s restrictions on voting by mail are unconstitutional.
In a sharply worded ruling, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered that fear of contracting the virus be considered a disability under Texas’s mail-in ballot law. Under Texas’s election law, only absentees, those with an existing disability, or people over the age of 65 had been allowed to seek a mail-in ballot.
Voters, he wrote, should “have the option to choose voting by letter carrier versus voting with disease carriers.”
The judge also rebuked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, finding he probably engaged in illegal voter intimidation by threatening to criminally prosecute local elections officials who advised voters afraid of the virus to vote by mail.
To Biery, the fact that older voters but not younger ones could be safe from both the virus — and, potentially, Paxton’s wrath — amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against younger people. He said it probably violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause along with the 26th Amendment, which ensures the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged” for anyone 18 and older.
Without expanding mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic, the judge feared so many voters may decide against going to the polls that those who do won’t adequately represent the will of the people.
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“Americans now seek Life without fear of pandemic, Liberty to choose their leaders in an environment free of disease and the pursuit of Happiness without undue restrictions,” Biery, referencing the Declaration of Independence, wrote in his introduction.
Yet, he continued, “there are some among us who would, if they could, nullify those aspirational ideas to return to the not so halcyon and not so thrilling days of yesteryear of the Divine Right of Kings …”
Paxton promised an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, saying in a statement, “The district court’s opinion ignores the evidence and disregards well-established law."
Biery’s ruling is the latest in an ongoing conflict in Texas and throughout the United States regarding voting during a pandemic, especially when it comes to the presidential election in November. Many states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana, among others, have massively expanded the option to vote by mail to account for anyone who is simply worried about catching the virus during in-person voting in intimate settings.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/20/vote-by-mail-ruling-texas/
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