Appeals Court Allows Texas to Continue Investigations Into Vote Harvesting

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The decision reinstates a state law provision that made certain types of paid ballot harvesting a third-degree felony.

A federal appeals court has granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonโ€™s request to block a district court ruling that declared part of an election reform bill unconstitutional, allowing the state to continue investigating alleged cases of illegal vote harvesting.

In a decision on Oct. 15, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the district courtโ€™s Sept. 28 ruling, which had halted enforcement of certain sections of Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1). According to state officials, the 2021 state law was designed to combat voter fraud and bolster election integrity.

Specifically, the lower court had struck down a provision that made certain types of paid ballot harvesting a third-degree felony, finding it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by being overly vague and infringing on free speech.

Paxton appealed the district court ruling, calling it โ€œunacceptableโ€ and saying that it would impede the stateโ€™s ability to safeguard its elections.

โ€œA rulingโ€”weeks prior to an electionโ€”preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process,โ€ Paxton said in a Sept. 30 statement.

The Fifth Circuit initially sided with the attorney general on Oct. 4 by granting a temporary stay on the lower courtโ€™s order until Oct. 10. Then, on Oct. 15, the appeals court extended that stay indefinitely, allowing the state to enforce the provisions of S.B. 1 as the legal battle continues.

The appeals court found that the plaintiffsโ€”including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the League of Women Voters of Texasโ€”failed to meet the high legal standard required to block an election law just weeks before the general election. The court noted that the plaintiffsโ€™ constitutional challenge to the anti-vote harvesting provision was โ€œfar from โ€˜entirely clearcut,โ€™โ€ casting doubt on their likelihood of success.

The Fifth Circuit said that the plaintiffsโ€™ arguments, which asserted that the law was too vague and infringed on free speech, lacked sufficient merit to justify the district courtโ€™s injunction, particularly given the proximity of Election Day. The court said that the anti-vote harvesting provision had been in place for over three years without being successfully challenged and that last-minute changes to election laws could create confusion for voters as well as election officials.

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