Houston man who waited hours to vote drew national attention sees voter fraud charges dropped

[LetMyPeopleVote]

I remember the 2020 primary and this man did not vote until after midnight. Ken Paxton brought these charges even though the Texas AG had no authority to prosecute local voter fraud. The Texas courts have held that Paxton lack authority and so the charges against this man had to be dismissed.

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-man-whose-story-of-waiting-hours-to-vote-17524461.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

When Hervis Rogers cast his ballot for a presidential candidate in the March 2020 primary, it was after 1 a.m. and he had waited for more than six hours. His story captured national attention on social media as people rooted for Rogers, the last person in line at Texas Southern University, one of several Harris County polling locations that experienced long delays in the primary.

More than a year later, Rogers was arrested and charged with two counts of illegal voting, prosecuted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office for allegedly voting illegally while on parole.

Under Texas law, it is a second-degree felony to "knowingly" vote while on parole, on probation or under state supervision. Second-degree felonies are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Now, a district court judge has dismissed the case, after the state’s highest criminal appellate court recently reaffirmed its ruling that Paxton lacks unilateral authority to prosecute election crimes.

The attorney general's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Paxton demanded that the Texas courts give him authority to bring voter fraud cases-he failed

Paxton really wants to have jurisdiction to pursue voting fraud claims and threw a fit to try to force the court to reverse itself and give him such jurisdiction. This tantrum failed

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-Ken-Paxton-s-bullying-of-Texas-high-17474152.php?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=sftwitter&utm_medium=referral

Any flash of integrity among Texas state officials these days is worthy of mention, but particularly when it involves the rebuffing of the most scandalous scoundrel in their ranks.

Attorney General Ken Paxton was so smug earlier this year when he encouraged his supporters to go after an all-Republican panel of judges on the state’s highest criminal court after they ruled against him .

The case involved Paxton’s authority to unilaterally prosecute Texans for voter fraud — a favorite pastime for the attorney general even if he has few convictions to show for it . But the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals had ruled in December that the Texas Constitution doesn’t allow the attorney general’s office, which handles civil matters, to bring criminal cases, which is the job of county district attorney’s offices acting on behalf of the state.....

So it was only moderately surprising when he began denouncing his fellow Republicans on the high court, riling his supporters to hound them, and sounding alarms that their ruling could pave the way for a fraud-fueled liberal takeover of Texas.......

People did call and email the judges in droves, leaving messages that spanned from outrage to direct threats that were forwarded to law enforcement. Some were no doubt prompted by a robo-message , obtained by Hearst Newspapers, from Houston Republican activist and kingmaker Dr. Steven Hotze, who provided a phone number for the judges to tens of thousands of Republicans, urging them to: “Leave a message that you want the court to restore Paxton’s right to prosecute voter fraud in Texas,” Hotze said. “If this decision isn’t reversed, then the Democrats will steal the elections in November and turn Texas blue.”

Hotze, incidentally, was also indicted this year on charges of unlawful restraint and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for his part in a voter-fraud-hunting scheme that went awry. Terribly awry. See a pattern here?.....

Meanwhile, we applaud the judges who sided with the Texas Constitution over Texas politics. That’s all we ask. It’s a simple request of public officials — and yet so rarely honored.