VOTING RIGHTS

Federal Judge Nixes Texas Dems’ Push for Expanded Mail-In Voting

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery’s decision means anyone under the age of 65 must go to the polls in person.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by the Texas Democratic Party that sought an order to allow mail-in voting for anyone who so chooses. The decision hands Republican Gov. Greg Abbott a major win, and means the state can continue to restrict no-questions-asked voting by mail to seniors, which the Democrats argued amounts to age and race discrimination. “Yes, it is burdensome to be a citizen in a democracy and inconvenient to go to the polls, though those who gave their lives so we could, would wonder why they did if we don’t,” U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery wrote in his decision, citing legal precedent. “Democracy dies not always by conquering armies but by the slow death of sloth.” Biery concludes the order with a garbled version of Ben Franklin’s famous exchange, writing, “Once asked at the close of the Constitutional Convention, ‘Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.’”