Texas Law Forces Voting Groups to Turn Away Voters

A 2021 Texas election law has forced a major Rio Grande Valley nonprofit to stop providing direct, one-on-one assistance with mail ballots to new citizens and seniors. La Unión del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, now turns away voters who need help marking their forms because state rules ban compensated staff from touching a ballot.

The organization serves roughly 30,000 people annually in the region. Executive Director Tania Chavez Camacho said the group has altered its operations to avoid legal risks. Paid employees can no longer walk blocks to assist voters. Instead, LUPE relies on volunteers to perform limited tasks, reducing the direct support available to the community.

The restrictions stem from SB1, an election overhaul passed by the state legislature. The statute made it a felony for anyone to receive compensation for helping voters fill out ballots. Violations carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. This rule applies to paid nonprofit staff and has led to investigations by the state attorney general against advocacy groups in Latino communities.

Eustorgia Santos de Torres, a 67-year-old retired healthcare aide in Alamo, recently needed help for her blind husband, Nemorio Torres. She drove to LUPE headquarters in San Juan to get assistance with his mail ballot. Workers told the couple they could not help because the staff were paid. Santos de Torres marked the ballot herself and mailed it back about a month ago.

LUPE has shifted its strategy to group sessions where facilitators use screen projectors to demonstrate how to fill out forms. Chavez Camacho noted that this method fails for voters who cannot read. “It doesn’t matter that we’re doing those sessions because a person who doesn’t know how to read has to do it on their own and we can’t help them to know where to mark,” she said.

Volunteers at polling places face new bureaucratic hurdles. They must sign oaths confirming the voter’s eligibility for assistance and detailing their relationship to the voter. They must also affirm they are not being paid by a candidate. Legal experts warn that the definition of compensation is broad, potentially covering items like dinner, T-shirts, or college credit for volunteer work.

The Rio Grande Valley covers roughly 4,300 square miles and has a population of more than 1.4 million, 90 percent of whom are Hispanic or Latino. About 24 percent of residents live below the poverty line. The area has high rates of diabetes and one of the highest uninsured rates in the country. These factors increase the need for accessible voting support among the elderly and disabled populations.