A federal appeals court has granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to block a district court ruling that declared part of an election reform bill unconstitutional, allowing the state to continue investigating alleged cases of illegal vote harvesting.
In a decision on Oct. 15, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the district court’s Sept. 28 ruling, which had halted enforcement of certain sections of Senate Bill 1 (S.B. 1). According to state officials, the 2021 state law was designed to combat voter fraud and bolster election integrity.
Specifically, the lower court had struck down a provision that made certain types of paid ballot harvesting a third-degree felony, finding it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by being overly vague and infringing on free speech….