Multiple civil rights groups have already filed lawsuits against the state of Texas after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state's new voting measure into law Tuesday that is opposed by Democrats.
Critics say it makes it harder for minorities to vote and charge that it is actually aimed at voter suppression, but in signing the bill, Abbott declared that the new law's aim is to make sure every eligible Texas voter has the freedom to exercise that right while making it harder to cheat.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit almost immediately after Abbott signed the bill, saying it "intentionally targets and burdens methods and means of voting used by voters of color."
Meanwhile, The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Dechert LLP filed a lawsuit in state district court in Harris County on behalf of Texas State Conference of the NAACP and Common Cause Texas and others, Axios reported.
"Texas legislators know exactly what they are trying to do – use brazen tactics to disenfranchise Black voters, Latinx voters, and other voters of color who are a growing part of the electorate and who turned out and made their voices heard in 2020," Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said.
LULAC and Voto Latino sued as well, joining Texas American Federation of Teachers and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, claiming the new law puts "an undue burden on the right to vote." The suit says the law "purposely" restricts access to voters of color, those with disabilities and those with limited English skills.
The ACLU and AAPI civil rights group OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates' Houston chapter, the League of Women Voters of Texas had filed lawsuits last week before the law had been signed.
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