Waller County Agrees To Stop Voter Suppression Efforts Geared Toward Prairie View Students

You would think, after decades of complaints and litigation about voter registration and voting from Prairie View A&M University students, that Waller County officials would get the message and stop trying to violate Texas law and the Voting Right Act.

Of course, they haven’t, and the U.S. Department of Justice had to step in last week to protect Prairie View students from disenfranchisement by Waller County. Fortunately, an agreement was reached. The Campaign Legal Center has more:

The U.S. Department of Justice reached an agreement yesterday with Waller County, Texas, that is a huge step forward in bringing to an end a concerted effort to suppress the voting rights of Prairie View A&M University students. The Campaign Legal Center serves as legal counsel to a number of students at the historically black university and for the past several months has been coordinating efforts with the Department of Justice officials to take action against Waller County.

In addition to supplying DOJ with information about acts of voting discrimination in Waller County, the Legal Center also provided DOJ with information about voter registration barriers placed in the path of Prairie View A&M students by Waller County Tax Assessor Ellen Shelburne.

“Time and again Waller County officials have raised substantial, unnecessary and, illegal hurdles to Prairie View students exercising their constitutional right to vote,” said J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center. “This settlement goes a long way toward correcting this historic abuse of power by local officials to disenfranchise African-Americans.”

Hebert also gave credit to the Department of Justice, saying: “In the 2004 election cycle, we saw the Department of misuse the Voting Rights Act time and again by advancing a partisan agenda. The action taken by DOJ in Waller County is welcome news for those of us looking for DOJ to fulfill its traditional law enforcement responsibilities under the Voting Rights Act.”

The complaint filed yesterday in federal court against Waller County alleges that officials there have engaged in unlawful actions against students at Prairie View. In addition to the complaint, a consent judgment was also reached which provides far ranging relief for African-American students at Prairie View.

Under the settlement agreement Waller County officials will cease illegally rejecting voter registration applications for hyper-technical and arbitrary reasons, like the failure to include a zip code, which is not required by state law. Those applications that have been rejected for these reasons will now be processed with seven days and applicants will be notified of the disposition of their applications.

Not only are Waller County voting officials required to remedy the acts of discriminatory treatment directed toward Prairie View students who attempted to vote, but the County must do so within 7 days. In addition, the County must notify DOJ of corrective actions it has taken within ten days.

“Perhaps the most important part of the settlement is that the election officials in Waller County will undergo training and must appear on Prairie View’s campus to train deputy voting registrars,” said Hebert. “The Waller County election officials, especially Ellen Shelburne, clearly broke the law and they need education.”.

Waller County Justice of the Peace DeWayne Charleston, also represented by the Legal Center, who has been trying for years to end racial discrimination in Waller County, expressed hope that the settlement would be a big step toward making registration and voting opportunities equally available to all Waller County residents.

“The fact that the Justice Department has sided with Prairie View students in the voting rights battle in Waller County is vindication of what we have been saying for years: Waller County has been engaging in blatant acts of discrimination and it must come to an end,” said Charleston. “The fact that the County admitted violating the Voting Rights Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act shows just how strong our claims of racial discrimination really were. We also will continue to press the County to re-establish a polling place on Prairie View’s campus,” said Charleston.

One of the most interesting parts of the Campaign Legal Center statement is what Judge Charleston had to say about Greg Abbott:

Charleston , who is African American, also criticized Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for failing to act on complaints from Prairie View A&M students.

“For the last couple of years, Greg Abbott has promised his office would look into our complaints and take action in Waller County,” said Charleston. “He’s all talk and no action when it comes to voting rights for minorities. That such blatant acts of racially discriminatory voting practices could occur in Greg Abbott’s own back yard is proof positive that he is more focused on protecting the voting rights of Republicans in Texas and his own future prospects for reelection than he is in ending racially discriminatory voting practices at Prairie View.”

No kidding. Abbott and his office treat minorities and Prairie View students like second-class citizens.

Bookmark It