A Texas man who received widespread attention after standing more than six hours in line to vote in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary has been arrested on illegal voting charges after casting a ballot while on parole.
Hervis Rogers, 62, was arrested on Wednesday on two counts of illegal voting, a second-degree felony that carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in prison.
Rogers was one of the many voters in the city of Houston who waited hours in line to cast their ballots during Super Tuesday in March 2020.
He became the overnight face of Texas’ battle over voting access after emerging from a polling center at a historically Black college around 1:30 a.m.
Andre Segura, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas who is representing Rogers, said his client did not know he was ineligible to vote.
Our laws should not intimidate people from voting by increasing the risk of prosecution for, at worst, innocent mistakes.
We will continue to fight for justice for Mr. Rogers and will push back against efforts to further restrict voting rights.”. »
