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Title: Texas Democrat hailed a hero after he waited in line for hours to vote on Super Tuesday is JAILED
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2 ... crat-hailed-hero-after-he.html
Published: Jul 11, 2021
Author: Mike Rivero
Post Date: 2021-07-11 21:28:39 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 45

Hervis Rogers, 62, was taken into custody in Houston on Friday on two counts of illegal voting, a second-degree felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. His bail was set at $100,000.

In March 2020, Rogers became an overnight face of Texas' battle over voting access when he emerged from a polling center in Houston around 1:30 a.m.

He was among Super Tuesday voters who waited hours in line in mostly minority, Democratic neighborhoods. Lines in mostly white, Republican neighborhoods were shorter.

'The way it was set up, it was like it was set up for me to walk away,' Rogers told reporters in comments carried by multiple news outlets at the time.

However, unbeknownst to the media a the time, Rogers was still on parole from a felony burglary conviction, making him ineligible to cast a ballot under Texas law.

The Lone Star State's law states that a felon can only vote one they have 'fully discharged the felony sentence, including any term of incarceration, parole, or supervision'.

According to court records, Rogers' parole began in 2004 and expired in June 2020 - three months after he cast his ballot.

Andre Segura, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas who is representing Rogers, said his client did not know he was ineligible to vote. He drew comparisons to Crystal Mason, a Fort Worth woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for casting a provisional ballot while on probation in 2016, who also said she was unaware she could not.

'Mr. Rogers made headlines after waiting hours for what he thought was his civic duty, and was very proud of that,' Segura told The Associated Press.

'We shouldn't be prosecuting people for innocent mistakes.'

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