Hervis Rogers, hailed for waiting hours to vote in Texas primaries, arrested for 'illegal voting'
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has brought charges against a Houston man after he allegedly voted illegally
in last year’s presidential primary. Hervis Rogers is the same man, who
became a national hero when he cast his vote at 1 am on Super Tuesday
2020. At the time, he was praised for being a tenacious, civic-minded
man who waited in line for hours in Harris County to exercise his right
to vote.
At the time, he had said, “I wanted to get my vote
in, voice my opinion. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I
waited it out.” However, on Wednesday, July 7, Rogers was taken into
custody in the South Acres neighborhood in Houston. Reports said the
AG's office is prosecuting the case in Montgomery County, where he has
been pressed with two counts of illegal voting charges. He has to pay $100,000 as bail.
Paxton's office has alleged that Rogers exercised his right to vote
while on parole for a conviction for burglary and intent to commit
theft. In 1995, the Black man was awarded 25 years behind bars, but on
May 20, 2004, he was released on parole. His parole was set to end on
June 13, 2020. Under Texas state law, people convicted of a felony are
not allowed to vote until they complete their prison time, including
probation and parole. And, since the Texas primaries happened in March
last year, while Rogers was still on parole, his vote was deemed
illegal. The ACLU of Texas and defense attorney Nicole DeBorde
Hochglaube are representing him. ACLU of Texas legal director Andre
Segura said, “Mr. Rogers is being held in jail on an extremely high bail
amount that he cannot afford for what amounts to simply attempting to
fulfill his civic duty. This is not justice.”
Segura added: “The
arrest and prosecution of Mr Rogers should alarm all Texans. He waited
in line for over six hours to vote to fulfill what he believed to be his
civic duty, and is now locked up on a bail amount that most people
could not afford. He faces potentially decades in jail. Our laws should
not intimidate people from voting by increasing the risk of prosecution
for, at worst, innocent mistakes.”
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been
launched to help Rogers. The message on the fundraising stated, “Mr.
Rogers was arrested for voting in the Democratic primary 3 months before
his 15 year parole was set to end. Mr. Rogers thought he was eligible
to vote when he cast his ballot, which makes sense as you have to be a
registered Democrat to vote in the primary! AG Paxton is prosecuting the
case in Montgomery County, one of the most conservative venues in the
entire state, even though Mr. Rogers lives in Harris County and cast his
ballot in Harris County. The only reason Paxton brought this case in
Montgomery County is because he thought it would be an easier venue in
which to convict Mr. Rogers. This is a grave miscarriage of
justice--something that is very familiar to Mr. Paxton, who himself is
under indictment on felony security fraud charges.” Sam Sherman, who has
started the fundraiser, added: “Judge Lisa Michalk set Mr. Rogers bail
at $100,000. This is, and I can't think of another word for it,
absolutely insane. I am trying to raise money to bail Mr. Rogers out of
jail. He is being held on an unreasonably high bail amount that he
cannot afford because he thought he was fulfilling his civic duty to
vote. Please donate what you can.”
People on Twitter were also
discussing Rogers' case as most sided with him. A user tweeted, “What,
wait! Why can't we be treated fairly? Not better just fairly. I'm
disgusted with this legal system. Justice isn't blind...it can see and
it knows exactly who to target.” Another one asked, “If he wasn't
legally allowed to vote, why did they give him a ballot to vote on in
the 1st place?” “He just needs to tell Paxton that he voted for Trump.
Problem will disappear,” a person added.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If I were his parole officer, I'd throw his ass back in prison, but had Rogers voted in the Republican primary, I would have released him and suggested he come to my office for counseling. ..... Just kidding, of course!
Seriously though, $100,000 bail for illegal voting is, as Sam Sherman said, absolutely insane. But, the parole authorities should have put a hold on Mr. Rogers when they learned he had been arrested.
1 comment:
How'd he get a voters registration card? Either he lied on the application or someone decided to let it slide and should be held responsible as well.
The bail seems excessive, on yhe other hand he's a felon.
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