Group Sues to Stop Discriminatory Voter Purge Effort in Harris County, Texas

By Erin Ferns Lee October 11, 2012
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Today, LULAC filed suit against Harris County in Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas for wrongly rejecting voter applications through discriminatory practices against Latino and African-American applicants.

The group asserted that Harris County, among other things, disproportionately removed “higher percentage rates” of voter applications from “minority citizens than from Anglo citizens resulting in discrimination against African-Americans and Latino citizens” in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The purge effort also  relied on “faulty death matches,” a violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

“Once again, Harris County zealously seeks to exclude people of color from the electoral process, flagrantly disregarding federal statutes, the U.S. Constitution and the quintessentially American belief in one person one vote,” said Catherine M. Flanagan, Director of Election Administration for Project Vote.

“We filed the suit in order to stop these discriminatory practices,” said LULAC National President Margaret Moran. “Our singular goal is to make sure that all qualified individuals have the opportunity to exercise their Constitutional protected right to vote in this year’s election.” READ MORE