New Texas voting law snags US citizens, mail ballot requests
Source: Associated Press
New Texas voting law snags US citizens, mail ballot requests
By ACACIA CORONADO, PAUL WEBER and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
January 14, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A sweeping new Texas voting law that Republicans muscled through the Legislature last year over dramatic protests is drawing fire again, even before some of the most contentious restrictions and changes kick in ahead of the state’s first-in-the nation primary.
Thousands of Texans — including some U.S. citizens — have received letters saying they have been flagged as potential noncitizens who could be kicked off voting rolls. And this week, local elections officials said hundreds of mail-in ballot applications are being rejected for not including required new information.
“It’s just a bad situation on a number of levels,” said James Slattery, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of several voting rights groups that has sued the state over the new law.
The Texas law was approved last year by Republicans, who joined their party colleagues in at least 18 states, including Florida, Georgia and Arizona, in enacting new voting restrictions since the 2020 election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The national GOP campaign to tighten voting laws has been partly driven by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the election, not President Joe Biden.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-austin-texas-voting-legislature-f6bca0efd177745538e0c08aca796fb0
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