/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f973683c324ee611dfcd7d5/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=4500&cropY1=0&cropY2=2531&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Texas Voters With Covid-19 Need A Doctor’s Note To Vote Absentee, Court Rules")
Topline
Texas voters who contract Covid-19 will need a doctor’s note in order to qualify for a last-minute absentee ballot, an appeals court ruled Friday, potentially disenfranchising low-income and minority voters as Covid-19 continues to spread in the Lone Star state.
Election workers accept mail in ballots from voters at drive-through mail ballot drop off site at … [+]
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Key Facts
Under state law, Texas voters who apply for an absentee ballot less than 11 days before the election need a doctor to certify the voter has “a sickness or physical condition” that makes it infeasible to cast their ballot in person.
Voting advocacy group MOVE Texas sued the state to let those with Covid-19 vote absentee without a doctor’s note, arguing that requiring one would unlawfully burden and disenfranchise low-income voters and voters of color who don’t have access to medical care.
The Texas Court of Appeals ruled that not requiring a note “would change the longstanding requirements governing late mail-in ballots and risk voter confusion,” overturning a lower court ruling that would have allowed for absentee ballots to be granted without a doctor’s authorization.
MOVE said that it will not appeal the ruling, and instead launched a telemedicine program that connects voters with volunteer physicians who can certify their absentee ballot applications virtually if needed.
Big Number
5.2 million. That’s the approximate number of Texans who didn’t have health insurance in 2019, according to U.S. Census data reported by the Houston Chronicle. Uninsured Texans make up 18.4% of the state population, and the state has the highest percentage of uninsured residents of any U.S. state.
Surprising Fact
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actually discourages employers from requiring doctor’s notes from employees who have Covid-19, saying that the requirement would be impractical because medical offices “may be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely manner” and most people who contract Covid-19 “have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care.”
Key Background
The ruling was the latest in a string of court decisions against expanding voting rights in Texas ahead of the November election, including rulings that limited ballot drop-off locations to one per county, blocked populous Harris County from sending mail-in voting applications to all voters and allowed election officials to reject ballots for mismatched signatures without notifying voters. The state also did not expand mail-in voting ahead of the election due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as many other states did. Despite the challenges to voter access, however, Texas has seen record turnout ahead of the election, already surpassing more than 80% of the state’s total 2016 turnout and recording the most votes so far of any state, according to the U.S. Elections Project. Though new Covid-19 cases in Texas are much lower since the state’s peak over the summer, the pandemic continues to be an issue in Texas: positivity rates in El Paso have increased by 160% since Oct. 1 and hospitalizations have risen by 300%, leading the city to impose a curfew Monday, and according to data from NBC News, Texas has now tied California as the states with the most total recorded Covid-19 cases.
Further Reading
Sick Texans seeking late absentee ballots still need a doctor’s note, Texas appeals court rules (Texas Tribune)
Texas Voters Who Contract COVID Before Election Day Will Need A Doctor’s Note To Vote Absentee (BuzzFeed News)
With Nearly 7 Million Votes, Texas (Still) Leads The Way In Early Voting (Forbes)
Texas Counties Again Limited To 1 Ballot Drop-Off Site (For Now), Even As Turnout Surges (Forbes)
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