A federal appeals court has restored key provisions of Texas’ 2021 election integrity law, reversing a lower court ruling that found nine parts of the law conflicted with federal protections for voters with disabilities.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that most of the claims brought against Senate Bill 1 failed because the plaintiffs lacked standing. One claim that cleared the standing hurdle failed on the merits. The ruling reverses an injunction against provisions covering mail ballot identification, voter assistance and other election activity.
Judge Andrew Oldham, writing for the three-judge panel, opened the opinion with a forceful defense of safeguards for voting by mail.
“It has long been established that mail-in ballots are prone to fraud,” Oldham wrote. “That is why voting by mail jeopardizes election integrity and democracy itself.”
SB 1, authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, was passed by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature in 2021. The law says its purposes include reducing the likelihood of election fraud and ensuring legally cast ballots are counted.
Among its most closely watched provisions are new identification requirements for mail voters. Voters must provide either an identification number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when applying to vote by mail and when returning their ballot. The number must match information in state records.
The law also includes procedures allowing voters to correct certain problems with their ballots.
Those requirements initially resulted in higher rejection rates and became a central issue in the legal challenge. But the 5th Circuit pointed to evidence showing rejection rates declined sharply as voters became accustomed to the system.
According to the court, the percentage of mail ballot applications or ballots rejected because of identification problems fell from roughly 11 or 12 percent to 2.7 percent within eight months. The court found that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated the continuing injury needed to maintain their challenges to the identification provisions.
SB 1 also tightened rules for people assisting voters. Assisters must sign an oath addressing whether they coerced or intimidated a voter, disclose their relationship to the voter and state whether they received compensation from a candidate, campaign or political committee.
The law separately restricts compensation for certain election-related activities, including what Texas law defines as paid “vote harvesting” services.
The plaintiffs argued that those and other provisions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. A federal district court agreed and permanently blocked nine provisions.
The 5th Circuit reversed that decision.
Oldham devoted some of the opinion’s sharpest language not to SB 1 itself, but to the lower court’s handling of the yearslong litigation.
“Across the appeals from this consolidated lawsuit, we have reversed the district court on everything—from denials of motions to intervene, to denials of legislative privilege, to denials of motions to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds,” Oldham wrote.
“[W]e have been playing an exhausting game of Whac-A-Mole to correct the district court’s mishandling of this case.”
“Today, we do it again,” he added.
The district court had determined that nine provisions were inconsistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act.
“We disagree and reverse,” Oldham wrote.
The ruling does not amount to a finding on the merits for every disputed provision. Much of the case turned instead on standing — whether the plaintiffs had demonstrated the direct and continuing injury required to pursue their claims in federal court. The court reached the merits on one claim involving restrictions on compensated voter assistance and ruled for the state.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the decision Wednesday.
“I just secured a major win upholding election integrity and preventing voter fraud,” Paxton wrote on social media. “My office will continue to defend Texas’s critical laws safeguarding our elections.”
The fight over SB 1 has stretched across five years and multiple appeals.
The legislation became one of the biggest political battles of the 2021 Texas legislative session. Democratic members of the Texas House left the state for Washington, D.C., breaking quorum and temporarily preventing Republicans from passing the bill. It ultimately became law after enough lawmakers returned for the House to resume business.
The Biden administration’s Justice Department also challenged portions of SB 1, while voting rights and civil rights groups brought claims under several federal laws.
Wednesday’s ruling eliminates the lower court injunction against the nine provisions at issue in this appeal, allowing them to remain in effect.
It also adds to a string of 5th Circuit decisions involving SB 1. Earlier appeals have dealt with legislative privilege, sovereign immunity and the law’s restrictions on compensated vote harvesting.
For Oldham, that history framed the court’s conclusion.
