• Election Administration

Gloria v. Hughs

9.25.2020
  • Texas
  • Closed

The NRF supported voters in the case captioned Gloria v. Hughs, which challenges Texas’s Absentee Ballot Age Restriction that restricts the ability to vote by mail to voters based entirely on their age. All Texas voters age 65 and over may vote by mail, regardless of their personal circumstances, but voters under 65 may only do so if they fit into a handful of narrow categories. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits burdening the right to vote based solely on a voter’s age. This discrimination is unconstitutional under any circumstances, but remedying it now is even more urgent given the threat posed by COVID-19 and the need to make sure that all Texas voters can cast a ballot while remaining safe and healthy — regardless of their age. On June 10, 2020, the court stayed this case pending a decision on the merits in another case at the Fifth Circuit. On September 23, 2020, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, which the court granted on September 25.