Texas man waited 6 hours at polling station accused of illegal voting

[ad_1]

A Texas man who received widespread attention after standing for more than six hours in line to vote in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary has been arrested for illegal voting after casting his vote during parole.

Hervis Rogers, 62, was arrested Wednesday on two counts of illegal voting, a second-degree felony that carries a sentence of between two and 20 years in prison. His bail was set at $100,000.

Rogers was one of the many Houston voters who waited hours in line to cast their ballots on Super Tuesday in March 2020. He became the face of Texas’ battle over access to the vote after walking out of a historically black polling station. College around 1:30 a.m.

But Rogers was a few months away from the end of his parole after two criminal burglary convictions from the early 1990s, which made him ineligible to vote under Texas law. Prosecutors also said Rogers voted illegally in the 2018 midterm elections.

Although Rogers voted in Harris County, one of the most diverse counties in Texas and where Houston is located, he was charged and possibly tried in Montgomery County, where he is currently being held.

Andre Segura, a Texas ACLU attorney representing Rogers, said his client did not know he was ineligible to vote.

In a statement, he said, “The arrest and trial of Mr. Rogers should concern all Texans. He has waited in line for more than six hours to vote to fulfill what he believes to be his civic duty, and is now being held in a bail amount most people cannot afford.”

Segura added: “He may face decades in prison. Our laws should not scare people from voting by increasing the risk of prosecution for innocent wrongs at worst. We will continue to fight for justice for Mr. Rogers and will reverse efforts to further restrict voting rights.”

Court records show that Rogers is being sued by the office of Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has zealously pursued cases of election fraud and last year made a failed attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the US Supreme Court.

“Hervis is a criminal rightly barred from voting under Texas law,” Paxton said in a tweet Friday. “I’m suing voter fraud everywhere we find it!”

Hervis is a criminal barred from voting under Texas law. Even this liberal NPR article says it, but buries it: “Rogers voted before his parole date expired, likely ineligible to vote on Election Day.”

I’m suing voter fraud everywhere we find it! https://t.co/cXTjGIXfe1

— Attorney General Ken PaxtonTX (@KenPaxtonTX) July 9, 2021

As soon as Saturday, Texas Republicans can start introducing revival election bills at the state capitol. One ruling would require the courts to explain to defendants how a felony conviction affects their right to vote, a change that Democratic Representative John Bosey III pushed for in the wake of Mason’s ruling.

“Intent is vital,” Bossi said. “We really have to keep paying those bills backwards because a lot of what they’re trying to do can criminalize mistakes.”

Research by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan institute of law and policy, shows that voter fraud is “extremely rare, voter impersonation is virtually non-existent, and many of the alleged cases of fraud are in fact errors by voters or administrators.”

Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC News Digital. She reports, writes, and produces stories for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com.

The Associated Press contributed.

[ad_2]