New York Attorney General Letitia James and six other far-left attorneys general slammed Texas for upholding the law in a case involving a convicted felon who fraudulently attempted to vote while on parole.
“The unwarranted criminalization of Hervis Rogers’ error is a grave miscarriage of justice,” James complained in a press release.
“By casting his ballot in the 2020 primary, Hervis Rogers was simply attempting to fulfill his civic duty,” she continued. “Now he is potentially facing decades in prison.”
Rogers became a leftist media darling in March 2020 for helping advance the phony narrative of voter-suppression after waiting in a long line during the state’s Democrat primary.
“I figured like it was my duty to vote,” Rogers told CNN the following day, estimating that he waited more than six hours.
“I wanted to get my vote in to voice my opinion,” he continued. “And I wasn’t going to let nothing stop me.”
I just got to the polling place at Texas Southern University. There are at least 100 people still waiting to vote. It’s 11:15pm. #TXDecides @HoustonPubMedia pic.twitter.com/scQjbC26mv
— Jen Rice (@jen_rice_) March 4, 2020
But Rogers was later charged with two counts of illegal voting, which carries a penalty in Texas of two to 20 years per count.
An ACLU attorney for Rogers claimed that he was unaware that he was ineligible to vote, although that is unlikely to prove an effective legal argument in court.
The case marks the culmination of leftist efforts to delegitimize the justice system by defunding police; selectively ignoring sovereign state and federal laws; and ultimately effecting the release and amnesty of countless felons, including violent criminals, whom Democrats believe could constitute a useful voting bloc to be pandered to.
Left-wing media coverage has projected onto Rogers an array of talking points to support their agenda, from criminal-justice and bail “reform” to attempting to discredit GOP-led election-integrity efforts by claiming that his prosecution—for a crime nobody disputes—is political theater.
James reiterated those talking points in her announcement attacking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“This prosecution is a clear attempt to intimidate voters, deter participation, and stoke fears of fictitious voter fraud,” she claimed, ignoring the fact that it was a casebook example of real voter fraud that has been not only shrugged off by the Left but actually celebrated.
“Texas is disguising voter suppression as election security and disenfranchising millions in the process,” she continued. “The voting system needs reforms, not restrictions, and we stand with all the champions of justice in Texas—including the state’s House Democrats—in fighting for fair and accessible elections.”
Unfortunately for Democrats—who recently celebrated the fact that leftist lawmakers tried to block the passage of an election reform bill by fleeing to Washington, DC—Rogers also helped underscore one of the chief GOP points about the need for better safeguards and verification measures at polling places.
According to the Media Research Center, Rogers already has spent decades in prison with multiple convictions for burglary. The last of these netted him 25 years, although he served only nine. Surprisingly, the now-62-year-old also had an arrest for prostitution in 2005, a year after his parole was granted.
Hervis is a felon rightly barred from voting under TX law. This liberal NPR article even says so, but buries it: “Rogers voted before his parole was scheduled to end, he was likely ineligible to cast a ballot on Election Day.”
I prosecute voter fraud everywhere we find it! https://t.co/cXTjGIXfe1
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 9, 2021
