Statement from Michael Slater on Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Monitors in Texas and Attorney General Abbott’s response:
“America stands for democracy. It appears that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is ashamed of Texas’s voting rights record or he would welcome observers with open arms. Instead, he is threatening them and attacking groups that are working to ensure that every eligible Texan is allowed to vote.
“Project Vote is one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan, non-profit voting rights organizations. As such, we recently advised the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on areas of concern for voting rights this election. Along with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP, League of Women Voters of the United States, and other voting rights organizations, we signed onto a letter inviting OSCE to monitor voting in states most likely to be impacted by voter restriction efforts.
“Texas has a long history of voting rights infringements, which is why it is subject to the Voting Rights Act. Recently, Texas lawmakers have passed laws that make it one of the states most hostile to voter participation. The Texas photo voter ID law and its redistricting plans were not pre-cleared by the Department of Justice.
“Project Vote is determined to use all of our available resources to support voting rights in Texas. That’s why Project Vote is currently prosecuting two important lawsuits in Texas, one challenging Texas’s burdensome restrictions on community voter registration drives, and a second challenging discriminatory procedures registration and list maintenance procedures in Harris County.
“In this election season, Project Vote urges the Texas Attorney General to devote scarce taxpayer resources to protecting voters from the very real threats of voter intimidation and suppression.”