The right to vote is a privilege that many Americans exercise, but something that not enough Texans exercise.
That's according to Project Vote affiliate "Voting for America,” and they say this problem stems from the state having so many restrictions that it hinders the amount of people showing up to the polls.
"They require anyone who wants to register voters in Texas to be appointed as a volunteer deputy registrar. And this system imposes a lot of requirements on these individuals that actually make it impossible to register people to vote," stated Voting for America Attorney Ryan Malone.
This lawsuit made by Voting for America was filed on Monday afternoon.
They claim that not only does the Texas election code makes it hard to put on community-based voter registration drives, it violates the code of the National Voters Registration Association (NVRA) as well as amendments in the US Constitution.
"These provisions enacted by Texas violate the federal law and infringe on first amendment protected speech, which is the right to conduct a voter registration drive," stated Malone.
According Malone, Texas places restrictions on community voting organizations, and threatens them with fines and criminal prosecution if they tried to put on a voter registration drive without the proper requirements.
"We think these laws are part of the reason that it is difficult to register people in Texas. Texas has a very low percentage of voters who are registered compared to other states. As the Texas population has increased, we haven't seen an increase in the registered voters. So we do believe and we've alleged that these regulations are affecting Texans in a very real way," Malone said.
However, we spoke with several voting organizations that focus on the Rio Grande Valley area.
They say they have not seen strict regulations by the state of Texas on voter registration drives to be a hindering factor thus far.
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