The Texas Attorney General and a County Clerk have been at odds over mail-in ballots leading up to November’s General Election.
This began when Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins made a social media announcements stating, “Update: our office will be mailing every registered voter an application to vote by mail.”

Texas laws concerning vote-by-mail have been upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The Fifth Circuit rejected arguments made by the Texas Democratic Party and others that Texas law violates the 26th Amendment by allowing only voters who are sixty-five or older to have access to mail-in ballots.

The 26th Amendment allows voters 18 years of age to not be discriminated against and allows their right to vote in all states and the United States.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced, “I am pleased that the Fifth Circuit correctly upheld Texas’s vote-by-mail laws, and I commend the court for concluding that Texas’s decision to allow elderly voters to vote by mail does not violate the 26th Amendment.”

Paxton had filed an injunction to stop Harris County Clerk Hollins from the plan to mail every registered voter an application to vote by mail.

The Harris County District Court rejected the injunction request, which allows Harris County to send mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters along with a pamphlet that explains who is eligible to vote by mail.

AG Paxton has filed an appeal with the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, which urges the court to prevent Hollins from sending the unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters in Harris County.

The court has until 9:00 a.m. on Monday, September 14, 2020, to respond, and the Office of the Attorney General requested relief be granted no later than 5:00 p.m. on the same day.

Texas election law reserves mail-in ballots for a small category of qualified voters:

–voters over 65 years of age
–voters who are disabled
–voters out of the county
–voters who are incarcerated

A press release from the Office of the Attorney General explains that, “the proposed mass mailing would sow confusion because applications would go to all registered voters, regardless of whether they legally qualify to a vote by mail ballot and regardless of whether they even want to vote by mail.“