Texas is trying to find of voter fraud and make examples out of people.
Last week they arrested a black man on 2 counts of illegal voting and set his bail to $100,000. He is facing potentially the rest of his life in jail.
His vote last Super Tuesday, March 3rd of 2020 was ineligible because he was on parole. Just days left of his parole in fact. Being on parole makes you eligible to vote under Texas law which he did not know at the time. He had been serving a 25 year sentence for burglary in 1995. This Super Tuesday was the first election cycle since being released on parole.
The ACLU says it was a honest mistake and never should have reach the point of charges and jail. That the AG is just trying to find voter fraud and set an example going for the maximum penalties available under Texas law.
The guy thought voting was the right thing to do and wanted to have his voice heard. He waiting inline to vote for nearly 7 hours.
Just read an update on this.
A felony indictment for illegal voting has a maximum of 40 years in jail. With 2 indictments of felony illegal voting, Rogers faces up to 80 years behind bars for going to the polls and voting. Why two counts of felony illegal voting? Because he voted for 2 different races in the primary. I'm assuming president and house/senate. Also, wtf. Why is it 40 years in jail for this? Glad to see our democracy has a steep price to pay to try to cast your vote when the ruling party wants to try to restrict access to the polls.
These charges came after Texas AG as spent more than 22,000 hours looking into voter fraud post 2020 election. So far none has been found. 12 fines have been giving out to date, for people who did not properly update their address when they moved, such as moving back in with their parents during the pandemic. But they moved to someplace in the same voting district. So, not voter fraud.
Then you have Rogers who voted in the primary race. Who thought he legally could vote and was doing his civic duties. It was a honest mistake not knowing that Texas' restrictive voting laws targeted him making him ineligible to vote. Again, not fraud.
Texas is really pushing the voter fraud and election reform bill because it's tried and true strategy to win reelection. Pit the white people against people of color. All this works in Abbots favor for a potential 2024 presidential bid.
Meanwhile, the major issues that do exist in Texas are not being addressed.
Texas has the largest percentage of it's population in this country that are uninsured. Texas is also seeing the fastest rate of rural hospital closures in the country. Because without people being insured, providing medical services is not profitable because people don't go unless its an emergency, then they end up with bills they can't pay.
When it comes to Texas power grid failure this past winter and people ending up with bills of several thousands of dollars, has the AG looked in it. Nope, not really at all. And the Texas legislator only bailed out the power companies who lost money due to fixed rate plans.
