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Justice Department sues Texas over restrictive voting law

WASHINGTON — The Justice Division is suing Texas over key parts of the state’s Republican-led voting regulation that federal officers say are in violation of U.S. protections for civil rights and voting entry.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, alleges that Senate Invoice 1, referred to as SB 1, violates a part of the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act by imposing restrictions at polling places and thru absentee ballots.

“On this motion, the US challenges provisions of SB 1 that deny eligible voters significant assistant within the voting sales space and require rejection of mail poll supplies for immaterial errors or omissions,” the Justice Division stated within the lawsuit.

“Our democracy depends upon the suitable of eligible voters to forged a poll and to have that poll counted,” stated Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland in an announcement accompanying the lawsuit.

The Texas regulation bans in a single day and drive-thru early voting, each of which had been well-liked in Houston’s Harris County final 12 months throughout heightened considerations concerning the coronavirus pandemic. Whereas lawmakers had beforehand thought of a invoice that may have restricted Sunday morning early voting, the ultimate model of the laws elevated the variety of hours on Sunday that counties should supply, from 5 to 6 hours.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has argued that the brand new guidelines will make it simpler to vote by increasing the required early voting hours within the state. However critics have pointed to the discount in early voting hours in a number of the state’s most populous areas.

Abbott’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday on the lawsuit.

The state regulation was handed over the objections of Democratic lawmakers, lots of whom briefly fled the state earlier this 12 months in an unsuccessful try to dam its passage.

That is the second main lawsuit targeted on voting entry filed by the Justice Division since President Joe Biden took workplace. In June, the Justice Division sued Georgia, arguing that limits on absentee ballots in a brand new state regulation will disproportionately have an effect on Black voters.

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