Dallas Morning News: Texas voters who fear catching coronavirus can vote by mail, state judge rules

Dallas Morning News: Texas voters who fear catching coronavirus can vote by mail, state judge rules

“Threatening to prosecute Texans who simply want to vote without endangering themselves, their families or their neighbors is just cruel,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog group. “Everyone who works on voting rights or elections in Texas, including the secretary of state, has said this is a piece of law that is not clear, hence the litigation, and the judge made what we believe is the right call today.”

AUSTIN — A state judge said Wednesday afternoon that all voters in Texas afraid to contract COVID-19 through in-person voting should be allowed to vote by mail during the pandemic.

State district judge Tim Sulak of the 353rd Disrict Court in Travis County said he will issue a temporary injunction allowing voters who feared catching COVID-19 through in-person voting to qualify for mail-in voting through the disability clause in the state’s election code.

The lawsuit was filed by the Texas Democratic Party and several voting rights groups who feared that voters in upcoming July elections, including the primary runoffs, could catch the virus if access to mail ballots was not expanded. …

“Threatening to prosecute Texans who simply want to vote without endangering themselves, their families or their neighbors is just cruel,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog group. “Everyone who works on voting rights or elections in Texas, including the secretary of state, has said this is a piece of law that is not clear, hence the litigation, and the judge made what we believe is the right call today.”