Judge guts vote registration law

GALVESTON - A federal judge in Galveston on Thursday partially blocked new Texas registration laws that critics say amount to vote suppression because they prevent large voter registration drives.

U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa blocked the state from enforcing five provisions of the laws that its defenders say are aimed at preventing voter fraud.

"Today's ruling means that community groups and organizations like Voting for America and Project Vote will be able to run community voter registration drives in Texas," plaintiff's attorney Chad Dunn said. "These drives are important to reaching the millions of Texans, including three-quarters of a million African-Americans and 2 million Latinos, who are eligible but still not registered to vote."

Dunn represents two Galveston County residents and the nonprofit voter registration group Voting for America, an affiliate of the nonpartisan Project Vote based in Washington, D.C.

"They don't care how you vote as long as you get registered and participate," Dunn said.

The plaintiffs sued Galveston County Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson and Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade

"It was a scholarly opinion, he obviously put a lot of thought into it, but I am very disappointed by the outcome," Johnson said. State officials could not be reached for comment.

Costa granted a preliminary injunction on five sections of the law until a trial on whether the entire law violates the plaintiffs' civil rights and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.

Key points

Under the ruling, the state may no longer require that deputy voter registrars live in Texas, a law Voting for America said prevented it from organizing voter registration drives.

It also may not prevent deputy registrars from registering voters who live outside their county; prevent organizations from firing or promoting employees based on the number of voters registered; prevent organizations from making photocopies of completed voter registration forms for their records; or prevent deputy registrars from mailing completed applications.

Johnson said allowing groups to copy registration applications could violate privacy rights.

"I intend to start calling state representatives tomorrow to change the content of voter registration applications," she said. Johnson wants social security numbers, dates of birth and driver's license numbers removed.

"Is there going to be a huge increase in voter fraud? I hope not," she said, adding that her office would redouble its scrutiny of completed registration forms.

The plaintiffs had asked Costa to block eight sections of the law enacted in 2011 so that they could register voters before the national election in November. Costa declined to block enforcement of laws that make it a criminal offense for a deputy registrar to submit a partially completed form, a restrictive training requirement, and a requirement that deputy registrars wear an identification badge. He left the legality of those laws to be decided at trial.

Appeal possible

Dunn said the attorney general could appeal the injunction to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dunn, who has represented Democrats in redistricting lawsuits, said the Legislature's redistricting plan, photo identification bill and registration requirements are evidence of voter suppression.

"This Legislature will do anything to prevent Texans from voting," Dunn said.

harvey.rice@chron.com