Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Suc­cess­ful­ly Defends Texas Elec­tion Integri­ty Law

The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) declined to hear a case brought by a political group that sought to overturn Texas’s age-based restrictions on mail-in voting. This ends a years-long challenge in which Attorney General Ken Paxton successfully defended the Texas law that limits voting by mail, and the law will remain in place.

Texas law stipulates that all eligible voters must cast their ballots in person unless they meet certain exceptions such as being 65 years of age or older, disabled, out of the county during the elections, about to give birth, or confined in jail. In 2020, the Texas Democratic Party backed a lawsuit alleging that such restrictions on voting by mail were unconstitutional because they discriminated against voters younger than 65. The plaintiffs sought to overturn Texas’s mail voting restrictions before the 2020 election took place. While a district court initially sided with the plaintiffs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that ruling and upheld Texas law in the 2020 election. 

In 2022, a federal district court dismissed all of the claims and the Fifth Circuit upheld that decision in 2023. The plaintiffs then turned to SCOTUS which declined plaintiff’s petition to hear the case, thereby upholding the decision of the Fifth Circuit in favor of Texas law. 

“Many states irresponsibly and unconstitutionally changed their voting policies prior to the 2020 election. Fortunately, we did things differently in Texas: we fought hard to uphold Texas law and defend the integrity of elections in this State,” said Attorney General Paxton. “We have worked tirelessly to keep our elections free and fair. There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of every legal vote.”