Texas Democratic Party takes mail-in voting case to Supreme Court

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by  Taylor Goldenstein June 16, 2020

The Texas Democratic Party is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on its case seeking to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic.

The party announced Tuesday that it filed an application asking the nation's highest civil court to lift an appellate court stay and allow voters lacking immunity to the new coronavirus, essentially all Texans, to vote by mail.

It's the latest development in a monthslong, back-and-forth legal battle that has most recently resulted in a several losses for the Democrats and could mark the end of the road.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas_legislature/article/Texas-Democratic-Party-takes-mail-in-voting-case-15344100.php

[Elderberry]

Texas Democrats ask justices to allow mail-in voting for all

SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 6/15/2020

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/06/texas-democrats-ask-justices-to-allow-mail-in-voting-for-all/#more-294433

With just over two weeks remaining before the deadline to request mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary runoff election, the Texas Democratic Party and a group of Texas voters have asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a ruling by a federal trial court that would allow all eligible voters in Texas to vote by mail for the 2020 election cycle. Citing concerns that allowing widespread mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud, Texas officials have opposed their effort; a decision by the Supreme Court to intervene could have repercussions for mail-in voting in other states beyond Texas.

Texas election laws only allow voters who are 65 years or older to vote by mail without providing an excuse. But the Texas Democratic Party and several Texas voters went to federal court this spring to challenge that rule in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of those voters, Joseph Cascino, is a 20-year-old Texas voter who wants to be able to vote by mail because his mother is immunocompromised; another, Shanda Sansing, is 60 years old and wants to avoid in-person voting because her husband and daughter have asthma.

In May, a federal district judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction that would allow any voter in Texas, regardless of age, to vote by mail to avoid COVID-19. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled that, by treating older voters differently from younger voters, the Texas election law likely violates the 26th Amendment, which gives the right to vote to all U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old. Biery’s order would apply “during the pendency of pandemic circumstances,” which could mean not only the upcoming primary runoff election scheduled for July 14, but also the general election scheduled for November 3.

More at link.