Voting Rights and Election Law Update- 3/20/23
By
Stephanie Swanson
Posted: 2023-03-20T19:57:53Z
By Stephanie Swanson, LWVTX Board Member, Voting Rights and Election Law Issue Chair
Elections Update
Last week the League provided testimony in support of HB 357, which would reduce the number of personal identification requirements needed to track your ballot. This change would help reduce confusion in the vote by mail process. Click here to see LWVTX testimony.
SB 2 Passes Out of the Senate
Last week, the Senate voted SB 2 out of their chamber. The proposed changes to the Illegal Voting Statute included in SB 2 are vague and confusing which could lead to criminalization of simple mistakes at the polls. The Lt. Governor and other members of the legislature have made this bill a priority, despite the fact that election fraud is extremely rare in our state.
SB 2 would increase the penalty for illegal voting, making it a second-degree felony that is subject to 2-20 years in prison. This would make voter fraud equivalent to violent offenses such as manslaughter or aggravated assault and is such an excessive punishment that we feel it will intimidate voters from participating in our democratic process.
But SB 2 would do more than just increase the penalty on illegal voting. It attempts to redefine the intent necessary to commit the crime. Currently, a person who votes or attempts to vote and who is ineligible to vote must do so knowingly and intentionally in violation of the election code. In other words, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person knew they were ineligible under the election code and intentionally cast a ballot anyway. The authors of SB2 have added language that suggests a person who simply knows of the circumstance that makes them ineligible could be found guilty even if they did not know that that circumstance was a violation of the election code.
Illegal voting or voter fraud is extremely rare. While there have been instances, like Jenkins v. State (10 voters conspired to cast illegal ballots in order to control a Road Utility Board) involving multiple parties, individuals rarely intentionally cast illegal ballots. The concern with SB2 is that the language is confusing and may impact voters who simply make a mistake misunderstand the law. We are also concerned about how this language will be applied to provisional ballots as well the potential of this change to discourage or intimidate voters.