September 6, 2020
HOUSTON EDITION
Vol. 25, Issue 32
EARLY VOTING MATTERS
TEXAS SUES HARRIS COUNTY
VOTE: YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT
R a c i a l ly - mot iv ate d killings, police brutality and mistrust/distrust of our elected and appointed leaders are at an all-time high as civil unrest and unlawfulness continues to spread across America. “This is some f*** up sh**,” said African American News&Issues publisher Roy Douglas Malonson. “What’s happening in America is like what Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson’s song called ‘A Real Mother for Ya!’” Do you want it to end, but feel there’s not much you can do about it? Well, there is one thing -- VOTE as
if your LIFE depended on it -- and, frankly, it does! This time, however, African Americans don’t have to count jellybeans in a jar before exercising their rights. From the 1890s to the 1960s, many state governments in the Southern United States administered literacy tests to prospective voters, purportedly to test their literacy in order to vote. The “jellybeans test” was a technique used during the Jim Crow era, in which the registrar would ask Black voters to guess the number
of jellybeans in a jar. If Blacks guessed incorrectly – of course ANYBODY would -then they were denied the right to vote. And while Blacks went through hell, whites were given exemptions. Whites could bypass the literacy test if they could meet alternate requirements that typically excluded blacks, such as a grandfather clause, or a finding of “good moral character.” The character witness was usually another white person, more than likely a post-Civil War Southerner who was against any non-whites’
voting privileges. These so-called literacy tests, along with poll taxes, residency and property restrictions, were commonly used to disenfranchise African Americans and deny suffrage. And when that didn’t work, there was violence, intimidation and death. Still, Blacks continued to fearlessly fight for their rights and thanks to organized protests, an unwillingness to give up and MEDIA, laws began to change. Just a simple fact for you to know before you RUN to the polls and VOTE this November. - AANI
HOUSTON – Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins is speaking out about a lawsuit filed against his office by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for sending unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to over two million Harris County registered voters. Paxton’s lawsuit claims Hollins’ plan was in violation of Texas election laws, which state mail-in ballots are reserved for a few limited categories of qualified voters who are age 65 and older and voters who are disabled. Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that fear of contracting COVID-19 does not qualify as a “disability” and mail-in ballots must be preserved for qualifying groups.
“Election officials have a duty to reject mailin ballot applications from voters who are not eligible to vote by mail,” said Paxton. “This blatant violation of law undermines our election security and integrity and cannot stand. I will continue to fight for safe, fair, and legal elections across the state.” Hollins says he is not in violation, and that arming voters with valuable information is of benefit to the community, with health concerns amid the pandemic also being a key priority. “My role is to protect the right to vote and make voting as safe and convenient as possible for the voters Harris County Clerk cont’d page 3