Texas Ballot-Harvesting Ban Upheld in Federal Appeals Court

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard by Travis Morgan February 13, 2026

The 2021 law bans individuals from offering “vote harvesting services” to influence the outcome of an election.

Texas’ law banning paid ballot harvesting has been upheld in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. This decision reversed a district court ruling that had blocked the state from enforcing the ban, although that ruling had been stayed.

The state will continue enforcing the law for the upcoming 2026 primary elections, pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Background

Lawmakers passed the ban on paid vote harvesting in 2021 as part of a comprehensive election integrity measure known as Senate Bill 1. The law established three third-degree felonies for participating in a paid vote harvesting scheme under the Texas Election Integrity Act.

The law defines “vote harvesting services” as in-person interaction with voters “in the physical presence of an official ballot or a ballot voted by mail” that is “intended to deliver votes for a specific candidate or measure.”

Almost immediately, lawsuits were filed by a variety of left-wing plaintiffs seeking to block enforcement of the law. The suits were later consolidated into a single case challenging SB 1.

In the Fifth Circuit opinion, the plaintiffs were described as “a group of organizations engaged in get-out-the-vote efforts that could be construed as illegal vote harvesting” that “have attacked many aspects of S.B. 1.”

The opinion states that SB 1’s provisions were being “serially litigated before the district court for reasons that are not obvious considering the similarity of parties, issues, and witnesses.”

Notable plaintiffs include La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), League of Women
Voters of Texas, Texas NAACP, and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-ballot-harvesting-ban-upheld-in-federal-appeals-court/

[Free Vulcan]

Another court win, and a decision that might be valuable later.

Iowa had ballot harvesting for one year, I didn't care for it. I knocked on a door of one woman and she told me flat she never a requested an absentee ballot, she had voted at the polls every election.

There were just so many holes in the process where someone could cast a fraudulent ballot under someone else's name. Thankfully they did it for only one election.