Texas violated federal voting laws, judge rules Online drivers license address changes must be treated the same as in person changes, court says

A federal judge ruled Friday that Texas is violating national voter registration laws by how it is treating online address changes differently than in-person changes. In-person changes are sent directly to Texas election officials when a customer agrees. But online customers must take extra steps to make the change. less A federal judge ruled Friday that Texas is violating national voter registration laws by how it is treating online address changes differently than in-person changes. In-person changes are sent directly to ... more Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News Photo: John Davenport, STAFF / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas violated federal voting laws, judge rules 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN -- As expected, a federal court has issued a final ruling declaring Texas to be violating national voter registration laws.

In a final ruling made public Friday, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio declared the Department of Public Safety cannot encourage people to renew driver's licenses online, then add additional steps to update their voter registrations that are not required of people who go to their offices in person.

The judge said that the National Voter Registration Act, often called Motor Voter, requires equal treatment.

"DPS is legally obligated, as a designated voter registration agency under the NVRA, to permit a simultaneous voter registration application with every transaction," Garcia wrote in his opinion.

Currently, Texas does not allow people who change their driver's license address online to simultaneously change their voter registration address -- something people who make the change in person are allowed to do. Online DPS customers are required to file additional forms and mail them to another agency to change the voter registration.

Garcia's final ruling had been anticipated.

Last month when Garcia first announced he would rule in favor of the Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said they were looking "forward to filing an appeal." On Friday, the a spokesperson for the agency said they were still reviewing the ruling.

In late March, Garcia indicated in a court order that he would side with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which brought the case. The Texas Civil Rights Project argued that many people who checked a box online through the DPS thought they were getting their voter registrations updated as well, but that never happened. Many did not realize it required additional forms and actions to make the change happen.

"Today is a victory for voting rights and democracy in Texas," said Mimi Marziani, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

"For years, the state of Texas ignored and violated federal laws designed to bring more people onto the voter registration rolls and strengthen our democracy; sadly, thousands and thousands of people have been disenfranchised because of the state's actions," he said.

The state had argued the Texas voting laws require a signature on paper to change a voter registration. But Garcia said testimony in the case shows that for even in-person changes of address, DPS uses electronic signatures that are transmitted to the Secretary of State's office to update voter records, so it makes little sense why electronic signatures by people online could not also be used.

"Yet SOS admits that it uses previously stored electronic signatures for all voter registration applications that originate with DPS regardless of whether those applications are paper transactions," Garcia noted in his ruling.

He has given the state until May 17 to come up with a plan to allow both online and in-person drivers license changes allow voter registration updates without additional steps for one over the other.

The Texas Civil Rights Project used the case of a Harris County man as one of their examples of voters who tried to update their drivers license online and thought they would also have their voter registrations updated. In 2015, John Woods moved from Travis County to Harris County. When he changed his driver's license address online, Woods thought his voter registration data was also updated.

But when he showed up to vote on election day in 2015, Woods was told he was not registered in the county.

Woods is hardly alone.

Between September 2013 and May 26, 2015, more than 1,800 voters filed formal complaints with the state saying they mistakenly believed their voter registration records were updated when they used the DPS online system. The Texas Civil Rights Project said that the 1,800 number is a mere fraction of voters who have been duped by the state's confusing system.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.