Fifth Circuit clears path for Ken Paxton to continue vote harvesting probes, for now [View all]

Source: San Antonio Express-News

Oct 15, 2024


A federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated portions of Texas’ 2021 voting law regulating ballot handling, ruling that a judge’s previous decision to strike certain rules came too close to the 2024 election.

The ruling, issued by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, means the provisions aimed at preventing “vote harvesting” will stay in effect through at least Nov. 5, and that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is cleared to investigate into the practice.

Judge James Ho, who authored the decision, wrote that the state law in question had “been on the books for over three years” when U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez struck down the provisions for being overly vague. Rodriguez’s decision came after some counties had already mailed out absentee ballots, Ho noted.

The case was initiated by a group of civil rights organizations in 2021, soon after the law was passed. Rodriguez oversaw a lengthy, three-year trial that included more than 80 witnesses.

Read more: https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/ken-paxton-vote-harvesting-ruling-19839100.php