On the same topic of voting rights / suppression, I was listening to Rachel Maddow, episode #112, posted today (last night's show). Now, I grant that Maddow can be annoying in delivery some times but she's cogent and delivers detailed analysis (with hyperbole, at times). I binge and then break away for a while. Today, she's discussed two stories concerning two Democratic voters in Texas. She contrasts the extreme treatment of the subjects of those two stories with the comparably lenient treatment of their Republican equivalents. I'm basically quoting from Maddow, below.
One: Crystal Mason. In 2016, she went to her local polling place in Terrence County, TX, to vote. She discovered her name was not on the voting rolls there. So, at the suggestion of a poll worker, Ms. Mason filled out a provisional ballot, She was told, basically, "We're not sure what the problem is but fill out a provisional ballot. That way, if there is any real problem here, we won't count it. But, provisionally, you can cast this vote, in case we can sort out whatever seems to be the matter." A few months after that experience, Crystal Mason was arrested and charged with illegal voting because, when she filled out that provisional ballot, she was on supervised release after completing a prison sentence for a federal conviction. And, she thought, because she had served her time in prison, that she was eligible to vote. She did not know that, under TX law, you're not eligible to vote unless you've also completed any probation or any supervised release after release from prison. Even though that was a technical misunderstanding, and even though she cast a provisional ballot, and even though her provisional ballot was never counted, she, nevertheless, was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for illegal voting.
Two: This story starts on presidential primary day, March 3, last year. Harris County, Texas, home to Texas's largest city, Houston. Harris County was not prepared for the huge turnout. There were crazy long lines at lots of polling places, particularly in heavily minority communities. People in those communities had to wait hours to vote, in many circumstances. That was when the nation met a man named Hervis Rogers. Hervis Rogers was the last person in line at the polling site at Texas Southern University's campus that night. Hervis Rogers worked two jobs. He got to the polling site just before the polls closed at 7pm. In the end, it took him 6 hours and 20 minutes to get to the front of the line and cast his ballot. He finally walked out of that polling place after 1:30 in the morning. He told reporters he felt good. He also had to go get ready for his next shift, his next job. Hervis Rogers became the story of the day, a one-news cycle mini-celebrity because his persistence and dedication were so impressive and also because no American should ever have to be so persistent and so dedicated in order to just cast a vote... [note to self: resume at ~9:30 for info about how county clerk changed allocation of resources so that voting in Harris County roughly doubled in the 2020 general election and how that may have contributed to the voter suppressive legislation up for the vote in TX now].... Today, Hervis Rogers has been arrested. He has been arrested by the Republican Attorney General of Texas for illegal voting. Turns out, when Hervis Rogers waited over six hours to vote in March of 2020 on Super Tuesday, he was a few months short for the end of his parole for an old burglary conviction in the 1990s. He's been out of prison for more than 15 years but his parole did not technically end until last June. Remember, he voted in the primary in March. Texas Attorney General has charged Hervis Rogers with two counts of illegal voting, alleging that he voted in the 2018 election, as well. We do not know if this was an honest mistake on Hervis Rogers' part or perhaps he didn't know he was not allowed to vote. We don't know. Or, perhaps, it was a deliberate, pre-mediated scheme to wait over six hours in line to vote in a Democratic primary in order to break the law on purpose. Mwahahahahahaha... We do not know what Mr. Rogers has to say about any of this. We can't ask him because the attorney general of Texas has locked him up. Has locked up Hervis Rogers on $100,000 bail. He's in prison tonight. Bail is set at $100,000 because what? Because he might escape and vote again?! Also, I should tell you this. Hervis Rogers lives in Harris County: the big diverse county that includes Houston. He voted in Harris County. But, the TX attorney general has chosen to file these charges against him in neighboring Montgomery county. We asked the attorney general's office why they filed these charges in that other county. They answered, essentially, because we can, because the laws allow them to file these charges in any county that abuts Harris county if they want to. They wouldn't tell us why they picked Montgomery county to press these charges specifically. I can tell you that, according to the most recent US census date, of the eight possible counties that abut Harris county, they could legally have charged Hervis Rogers in,... of the eight, the option of drawing a jury pool, ... Montgomery county is just about the whitest. It has the lowest proportion of African American residents of any of those counties. I can't tell you, for certain, that that's relevant. But, I can tell you that it's true. The attorney general's office will not tell us why they chose this county. The ACLU of Texas has put out a strong statement that "the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Hervis Rogers should alarm all Texans. He waiting in line for over six hours to vote, to fulfill what he believed to be his civic duty. He's now locked up on a bail amount that most people could not afford. He faces, potentially, decades in jail. Our laws should not intimidate people from voting by increasing the risk of prosecution for, at worst, innocent mistakes. We will continue to fight for justice and for Mr. Rogers and will push back against any efforts to further restrict voting rights."
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If you are a Republican white guy engaged in an elaborate scheme to deliberately cast a dead person's vote for Donald T----, even though you know that person's dead and it's illegal, all is forgiven: probation / perhaps a small fine. [okay... I've spent so much time on this... I'm not going to bring up the two examples Maddow mentions because I found the following article in Snopes which makes that same sort of comparison. On the merits (as if I know what I'm talking about), the cases are different. But, fundamentally, that doesn't take away from the outrageousness of the activities in TX to suppress voting by pulling out all the plugs to intimidate voters.] I'll finish with posting a few articles I found on these cases. I did a web search for these and, tellingly perhaps, close to the top were articles from The Guardian, a British newspaper.
Texas man who waited seven hours at polls is charged with voting illegally [The Guardian, 7.9.21]
Did a Black Woman Get Prison for Illegal Voting, While a White Man Got Probation? [Snopes 5.5.21]
Texas upholds sentence for woman who didn't know she was ineligible to vote [The Guardian, 3.20.20]
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