Texas Chapter of Nation’s Largest and Oldest Latino Civil Rights Organization Says Clock is Ticking Down to Cure Challenges
San Antonio, Texas – The largest state delegation of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) today blasted SB1 as the reason why an estimated 4,000 mail-in primary votes cast in Bexar County, Texas alone are not being counted. Similar sweeping mail-in vote challenges throughout Texas bode badly for the Texas Hispanic community. Ballots that are not “cured” by March 7 will be thrown out permanently. The primary reason why mail-in ballots are being set aside is the lack of the voter’s driver’s license identification or the last four digits of their security number.
“This situation is nothing less than modern-day Jim Crow,” says Rodolfo Rosales Jr., LULAC Texas State Director. “Most Americans hear that term and do not understand what it means. Between the 1870s and the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, our country existed under two sets of laws, one set for whites and the other for blacks and Latinos. Everything backers of SB1 are doing now is about suppressing working black and brown people. They reduced the hours when we could vote, the number of places where we could turn in our ballots and added new requirements to disqualify our mail-in votes. They are counting on Latinos not curing the challenges so they can cut the count in their favor,” says Rosales.
Published news accounts report complaints from older voters who cannot drive or are homebound whose ballots are being excluded. Also, voters whose families are not able to get them to a county elections office to cure a challenge on their ballot. “Right now, the issue is about protecting the vote,” said one central Texas county clerk who declined being named. “This is no longer about winning or losing one election. It is about protecting the ballot for all voters. I am counting on LULAC to speak out,” added the official.
About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services, and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting the critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/
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