Harris County Republican Party Challenge to Voter Registration in Minority Areas Deepens

[TexasTowelie]

The Harris County Republic Party is under fire at the moment following allegations that they targeted voters in areas populated by minorities for challenges to their voter registrations. By challenging these locations under the guise of rooting out voter fraud, the party has effectively suspended the voting rights of people living at those addresses.

The Republican Party campaign was undertaken by Alan Vera, chairman of the party's Ballot Security Committee and involved 4,000 addresses. According to Thomas Wang, a Republican candidate this year for Texas House District 147, the challenged addresses corresponded to post office box locations:

“The inquiry into the voter suppression was initiated by members of the Harris County Republican Party who wanted to ensure that citizens are registered to vote in the precinct for which they resided and challenged the registrations of voters in Harris County who are registered to vote at street addresses corresponding to post office box locations.”

One such person was Third Ward resident Lynn Lane, a prominent local photographer. Despite living at the same address for the past five years and voting in every election, he received a letter from Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Ann Harris-Bennett’s office informing him that his registration was suspect and that he had to provide proof of residency or face loss of his voting power. By law Harris-Bennet's office must respond to the challenges with official notices to residents informing them they are in danger of losing their right to vote.

Lane was not the only one. Several people he knew, including a neighbor, had received similar letters, all in minority neighborhoods. Tim Lankford, who previously resided in the heavily-minority area at Beltway 8 and Bissonnet, also received one forwarded from his recently vacated address.

Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/republican-campaign-against-voter-fraud-more-extensive-than-previously-thought-10778869