Texas complies with court-ordered ‘motor voter’ change

Texas officials have complied with a federal judge’s order to correct a violation of federal voter registration requirements, the Texas Civil Rights Project said Thursday.

In a late-August order, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia gave the state until Wednesday to provide one-stop voter registration for those who use the Department of Public Safety’s website to renew a driver’s license or update their address.

The San Antonio-based judge said the 1993 National Voter Registration Act’s “motor voter” provision required DPS to allow for simultaneous voter registration and license renewal.

“This is a voting rights victory for all Texans. It’s a particular victory for younger Texans and poorer Texans who on average change address more often,” said Mimi Marziani, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of three voters, the League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas, a nonprofit youth advocacy organization.

Their challenge was later joined by the Texas Democratic Party, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Ivy Le, spokeswoman for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said state lawyers verified that the changes to the registration process had been made by Wednesday’s deadline.

Before the changes, visitors to the DPS website had to click through to another website, download a form, print it out, fill it in and mail it to their county registrar.

Those extra steps violated the federal motor voter law, which was designed to encourage voter participation by streamlining the registration process, Garcia said in an Aug. 28 ruling.

“DPS encourages Texans to use its online services to renew their driver’s license and change their address because it is easier and more convenient,” Garcia wrote. “It cannot, at the same time, deny simultaneous voter registration applications when those online services are used.”

The ruling mirrored a decision Garcia made on a similar lawsuit in 2018, when the judge also found the Texas system in violation of the motor voter law and the Constitution. A federal appeals court, however, overturned the ruling, saying the voters lacked the standing to sue because they had registered to vote in the meantime. The later lawsuit corrected the standing problem.

Texas officials fought both lawsuits, arguing that a physical signature was required on voter registration forms.