Houston, TX – Senator Bettencourt (R-Houston) is lauding the ruling reached by the Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday that says Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins (D-Harris County) cannot mail 2+ Million absentee ballot applications to all registered voters in Harris County, regardless of their eligibility to vote by mail or if they have even requested one at all. This ruling comes on the heels the Texas Secretary of State asking for “immediate halt” of this action at the end of August (https://bit.ly/3denMUb) as well as Senator Bettencourt requesting a review of these plans by state authorities.

“As I said before, this extreme overreach by Clerk Chris Hollins is a violation of the Texas Election Laws and with a wasteful 563% increase in the Harris County election budget, it’s a complete waste of taxpayer dollars,” said Senator Bettencourt. This Supreme Court ruling upholds the integrity of the election process and helps eliminate the abuse of voter rights and voter confusion,” he added.

The Supreme court’s ruling states Hollins’ actions would undercut the secretary of state’s duty to “maintain uniformity” in Texas’ elections. In a letter sent by Keith Ingram, Director of Elections in the Secretary of States office last month, he noted that such action is “contrary to our office’s guidance on this issue and an abuse of voters rights under Texas Election Code Section 31.005.”

“We must recognize the obvious and understand in an election year it’s very important to eliminate any and all confusion for voters,” said Senator Bettencourt. “Just because you have “free” Federal money doesn’t mean you should spend it on mailing millions of registered voters an absentee ballot form that nearly all of them can’t qualify for in the 1st place!!” he continued.

Senator Bettencourt spoke out immediately on August 27th and 28th calling for SOS and AG review (see more: https://bit.ly/2GGrPfQ & https://bit.ly/3denMUb and is available for comment. Senator Bettencourt will be crafting legislation on voter issues for the next legislative session in 2021.

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