A federal in Texas has struck down a key election integrity bill just days ahead of the critical presidential election.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez issued an order on Friday enjoining state and county officials from investigating or prosecuting alleged violations of “voter assistance” as directed by Texas Senate Bill 1.
Senate Bill 1 is a comprehensive election integrity measure passed by the Texas Legislature in 2021,
The bill was passed in response to concerns regarding election fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Judge Rodriguez claimed that Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act supersedes Senate Bill 1’s requirements and as such officials are prevented from investigating “voter assistance” incidents.
Attorneys representing the state argued that Senate Bill 1’s provisions are intended to deter political operatives from forcing unwanted assistance onto voters and already contained language protecting non-partisan voter assistance groups that assist disabled voters.
Judge Rodriguez’s decision leaves the door open for bad actors to commit election fraud.
This decision comes just over two weeks before the pivotal election.
This isn’t the first time Judge Rodgriguez undermined election integrity measures.
Earlier this month he issued an order halting enforcement of Texas’s paid vote harvesting ban, which was also part of Senate Bill 1.
He seems to be determined to knock down Texas Republican’s efforts to secure the election against voter fraud and other shenanigans that could damage Americans’ trust in the election.
Any possibility that Judge Rodriguez was anything but a partisan actor was eliminated when he prevented Texas election officials from rejecting mail-in ballots with wrong or missing identification numbers.
There is no legal basis or argument justifying the decision to force officials to accept mail-in ballots that have been tampered with or inaccurate.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed that order to the U.S. Fifth Circuit and won a temporary administrative stay.
However, this fight is ongoing and the question is which side will win by November’s election.
If Judge Rodgriguez’s decision is overturned by a higher court it won’t matter if his order prevents election-day investigations that could prevent fraud or other unethical behavior.
These decisions in individual states by activist judges could swing the outcome of the election.
While Texas isn’t in play as a swing state, a decision like this in Pennsylvania could have massive consequences for the election.
The RNC should pay close attention to these decisions that could have big impacts on what will no doubt be a tight election.
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