By any definition, the prosecution of Hervis Rogers will be a show trial.
In another case of the GOP's mean-spirited rage to shut down the minority vote, Texas's Attorney General, Ken Paxton, ordered Rogers's arrest because Rogers was four months shy of the end of his parole when he voted in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Rogers waited more than 6 hours to vote, till 1 a.m., and at the time, he was celebrated for his perseverance. Now, he's in jail with a $100,000 bond and an ACLU lawyer to defend him.
Did we mention that Rogers is Black?
Problem is, Rogers did break election law, and his only defense is that he didn't know he couldn't vote. In 2007, then-Governor Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would inform released felons about the date they'd be eligible to vote again. But you can't blame anything on a governor these days.
A Texas lawmaker, a Democrat, has recently introduced another bill about informing released law-offenders when they will again be eligible to vote. We say, Dream on.
And there is another problem: Rogers did the same thing in 2018 -- voted when he was ineligible. Worse, Rogers has been in the pen three times for robbery or burglary. That means that he's looking at up to 40 more years in prison if he's convicted.
If Paxton wanted to find a baddie for conservatives to hate, Rogers fits. Still, as an ACLU lawyer put it, "Our laws should not intimidate people from voting by increasing the risk of prosecution for, at worst, innocent mistakes."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amid-voter-suppression-push-texas-to-prosecute-man-celebrated-for-waiting-in-long-line_n_60eb31bce4b00edbf384496a
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