Voting Rights Leaders Step Up Election Initiatives After Texas Raids

Republican officials in Texas in recent days have investigated a number of Latino voting activists and political organizers as part of an election fraud inquiry, conducting a series of raids that led one group to appeal to the federal government.

The searches have also prompted response from voting rights organizers far beyond the state’s borders.

Activists across the Sun Belt have criticized the raids as the latest in a string of efforts in Republican-led states aimed at curbing access to the ballot box. Those efforts often cite baseless claims over noncitizens voting that have proliferated in right-wing media.

Voting rights organizers now say they are stepping up efforts to counter what they call voter intimidation and attempts to criminalize their members and volunteers ahead of Election Day.

In interviews, leaders of organizations working to get voters to the polls in Alabama, Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida said they were increasing their training, building new lines of communication with local election officials and pre-emptively seeking legal support to prepare for challenges. That groundwork, they said, is critical because the presidential race is expected to be won at the margins in a handful of swing states.

“This has just increased our alert here at home,” said Hillary Holley, a longtime activist in Georgia, where battles over elections have raged in recent years.