Amid Voter Suppression Push, Texas To Prosecute Man Celebrated For Waiting In Long Line
HuffPost
Hervis Rogers, 62, is being charged with illegal voting, officials said Wednesday. Rogers endured seven hours in line waiting to vote in last year's prim...
On Wednesday, Texas police arrested and charged Hervis Rogers, a 62-year-old Black man whose story of endurance despite voter suppression efforts went viral during the 2020 presidential primaries. Rogers faces two felony counts of illegal voting for casting ballots before he’d fully completed his parole for a previous crime, scheduled to end June 13, 2020. Texas election code says people who receive felony convictions can vote only after they have completed their sentence, including parole. The law says if someone knowingly votes illegally, they can be found guilty of a crime. Rogers gained notoriety last March when he was the last person to cast a ballot at a Texas precinct where he’d waited seven hours. Rogers was widely celebrated for his commitment to voting despite ongoing racism embedded in Texas’ elections, in which officials routinely overburden and under-resource precincts serving Black communities.More Related News