Voting Rights Groups Sue Texas to Block Election Restrictions

A broad coalition of voting-rights advocates asked a Texas federal judge Friday to suspend the state’s new “election integrity” law, claiming it unconstitutionally eliminates, or sharply rolls back, ballot-box access for disabled, elderly and minority voters.

The law, which took effect Sept. 1, eliminates balloting practices several of Texas’s more populous counties implemented last year to expand voter access during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as drive-through voting, 24-hour voting, universal mail-ballot access, extended early voting hours and greater access to language translators.

Texas Republican politicians -- led by Governor Greg Abbott -- made passing the measure the Legislature’s highest priority ...