*A Texas man who waited for “a lit bit over six hours” at a polling center in Houston last year for Super Tuesday has been charged with illegal voting.
Here’s more from CNN:
According to a June 24 indictment from the Texas attorney general’s office, Hervis Earl Rogers, 62, voted in the November 6, 2018, general and special elections and the March 3, 2020, Democratic primary election despite being on felony parole for a 25-year sentence for burglary. Because he was on felony parole, he was ineligible to vote under Texas law, according to the Texas attorney general office.
In Texas, ex-felons are permitted to vote once they have completed both their sentences and all the terms of their supervised release, such as parole.
Rogers, who is Black, faces up to 40 years in prison for the two felony charges of illegal voting, a second-degree felony in Texas.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is representing Rogers. The group claims he did not know that he was voting illegally.
“That’s why he went and stood in line for almost seven hours and spoke to CNN about it. He felt he was doing the right thing,” Andre Segura, ACLU Texas’ legal director, told CNN. “Where’s the evidence he knew or intended to vote illegally?”
Check out the video report below.
READ MORE: After Decades, Congress Votes to Make Juneteenth A Federal Holiday
“(Attorney General Ken Paxton) wants to create a narrative of widespread voter fraud. We don’t think this is a case that should gotten to this point,” Segura said, also calling the charges against Rogers “a misuse of resources.”
Rogers was arrested Wednesday and held at Montgomery County Jail until The Bail Project posted his $100,000 bail.
Segura said it’s “a relief that Mr. Rogers is no longer in jail.”
“He should not have been arrested and charged in the first place, and certainly should not have been forced to languish in jail on an outrageously high bail amount,” he added.
When Bruce Bartman cast a vote in his dead mother’s name for Trump & got probation – while Hervis Rogers waited 6 hours to cast his vote in the democratic primary not realizing he was ineligible on parole & got thrown in prison, facing up to 40 years – it’s white privilege. pic.twitter.com/iQQ4DD6OOS
— anyone_want_chips (@anyonewantchips) July 12, 2021
The charges against Rogers come as Texas lawmakers consider legislation that will shake up the cash bail system and “restrictive voting measures that would ban drive-through voting and 24-hour voting,” CNN writes.
“Voting restrictions and the expansion of the cash bail system go hand in hand,” Robin Steinberg, founder and CEO of The Bail Project, said in a statement Saturday.
She called Rogers’ situation “a textbook example of how these systems intersect to undermine our fundamental rights and target minorities.”
Rogers spoke to CNN last year about waiting six hours in the voting line after being the last person to cast a ballot at his local polling center in Texas.
“I figured like it was my duty to vote. I wanted to get my vote in to voice my opinion. And I wasn’t going to let nothing stop me. So I waited it out,” Rogers said at the time.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
