HOUSTON – The League of United Latin American Citizens announced Thursday that it is filing a lawsuit against the State of Texas regarding Gov. Greg Abbot’s mail-in ballot drop off location order. Abbott ordered Thursday that each county would have only one mail-in ballot drop-off location, thus closing all other locations selected by local leaders.
Domingo Garcia, the national president for LULAC, the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, said Abbott is trying to suppress the Hispanic vote. He said the move “reeks of the continued voter suppression and rigging of voter turnout by Republicans against all Texans in a pandemic.”
Recommended Videos
“It is disgraceful, unlawful and the worst type of third-world politics or something that you would expect in a country like Russia or China, not Texas or the United States,” said Garcia. "Every fair-minded American who respects the Constitution should honor the right of all citizens to have their voice heard. Shame on Texas if it stands by and allows this to happen.”
LULAC leaders said by suing the governor and the Republican party, they are protecting the rights of every Texan to vote.
“The rule right now allows a person to fill out his or her ballot and mail it in, drop it off at an early polling site or at the Election Administrator’s office," said Luis Roberto Vera Jr., the general counsel of League of United Latin American Citizens. "You can also take it on November 3rd to the poll location. That’s the rule. He wants to change that and plain and simple, it’s another form of voter suppression. Saying no, you have to mail it knowing all the problems with the mail right now and the fact they have cut back on the postal service machinery and all that, Governor Abbott is trying to force everybody to mail in their ballot knowing that there will be votes lost. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that you cannot change the rules at the last minute. What Governor Abbott did today is disgraceful.”