Texas judge rules all registered voters can vote by mail if they fear catching coronavirus

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by milkprogrammer

Washington, DC (CNN) A Texas judge on Friday ruled that all registered voters in the state should be allowed to request and use mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.

District Judge Tim Sulak, in a ruling filed Friday in Travis County, issued a temporary injunction that eases the definition of "disability" in Texas' vote-by-mail provision, making it apply to all registered voters who fear for their health in casting ballots in person for the state's upcoming elections.

Texas' election code defines "disability" as "a sickness or physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the polling place on election day without a likelihood of needing personal assistance or of injuring the voter's health." Voters who meet this definition and wish to vote by mail must submit applications.

Sulak acknowledged during a court hearing on Wednesday that he expects an appeal from the state attorney's office, which has issued guidance that fear of Covid-19 does not qualify as a disability.

"Moreover the evidence shows that voters and these Plaintiffs ... are reasonable that voting in person while the virus that causes Covid-19 is still in general circulation presents a likelihood of injuring their health, and any voters without established immunity meet the plain language definition of disability thereby entitling them to a mailed ballot," the order read.

spleenboggler on April 18th, 2020 at 03:43 UTC »

This is just a district-level judge, offering a temporary injunction.

Lets see what happens when the state's appeals and supreme courts get their hands on it.

moby323 on April 18th, 2020 at 02:24 UTC »

A nation which says that in order to vote you must risk your health is not a true democracy in any fucking sense of the word.

thepumpkinking92 on April 18th, 2020 at 01:34 UTC »

Best decision we've made since the idea of lockdown, in my opinion.