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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO DIVISION
JARROD STRINGER; BENJAMIN HERNANDEZ; JOHN WOODS, Plaintiffs, and TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY; DSCC; DCCC, Intervenor-Plaintiffs, v. RUTH HUGHS, in her official capacity as the Texas Secretary of State;
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STEVEN C. MCCRAW, in his official capacity as the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Defendants. Civil Action Case No. 5:16-cv-00257-OLG
INTERVENOR-PLAINTIFFS TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DSCC, AND DCCC’S COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF NATURE OF THE CASE
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This action seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to redress Defendants’ systematic and continuing violation of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Intervenor-Plaintiffs, who have invested and plan to invest substantially in voter registration efforts throughout the state and among whose membership are eligible Texas voters who utilize the Department of Public Safety’s (“DPS”) online portal for renewal and change of address transactions, have been injured by Defendants’ continuing unconstitutional treatment of these individuals, who are arbitrarily subject to differential treatment regarding their efforts to register
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Intervenor-Plaintiffs have substituted the name of the current Texas Secretary of State in this case pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d).
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2 to vote solely because they choose to utilize DPS’s online portal for renewal and change of address transactions rather than accomplishing these tasks in person or by mail. Texas voters will continue to be shut out of the democratic process unless and until Defendants reform their registration practices. 2.
Defendants permit certain Texas driver’s license holders to renew their license and/or update the address on their license online on DPS’ website at www.txdps.state.tx.us. While there have been many different iterations of this online process over the years,
see Stringer v. Pablos
, 320 F. Supp. 3d 862, 869, 871, 876, (W.D. Tex. 2018), none have offered any means for simultaneous voter registration. Today, despite years of litigation over this issue before this Court, Defendants still fail to allow for simultaneous registration with online renewals and changes of address.
See
Press Release, Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, Fifth Circuit Rules in Favor of Texas Voter Registration System in “Motor Voter” Lawsuit (Nov. 14, 2019), https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/fifth-circuit-rules-favor-texas-voter-registration-system-motor-voter-lawsuit (“Currently, Texans who use the DPS driver license renewal and change-of-address website are sent to a separate page – administered by the Texas Secretary of State – where they can complete an online application, print it out, sign it, and mail it to their county voter registrar to ensure their ability to vote in upcoming elections.”). 3.
In contrast to the multi-step process required for a driver using DPS’s online systems to update their voter registration, DPS’s in-person driver’s license applications, ECF No. 93, exh. A-7, in-person renewal/replacement/change of address forms, ECF No. 93, exh. A-8, and mail in change of address forms, ECF No. 93, ex. A-9, serve as simultaneous voter registration applications.
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Defendants’ current practices treat similarly situated voters differently based solely on how those voters choose to transact with DPS without any adequate justification, in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of equal protection. 5.
Defendants must not be permitted to continue to ignore constitutional law. Intervenor-Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court enjoin Defendants from further violations of the law and grant the relief set forth below.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
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Intervenor-Plaintiffs sue under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 to redress the deprivation under color of state law of rights secured by the United States Constitution. 7.
This Court has original jurisdiction over the subject of this action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343 because the matters in controversy arise under the Constitution and laws of the United States. 8.
This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants, who are citizens of the State of Texas and sued in their official capacity only. 9.
Venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b) because a substantial part of the events that caused Intervenor-Plaintiffs’ claims occurred in this judicial district, and each Defendant conducts business in this district. 10.
This Court has the authority to enter a declaratory judgment and to provide injunctive relief under Rules 57 and 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202.
PARTIES
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Plaintiff the Texas Democratic Party (“TDP”) is the statewide organization representing Democratic candidates and voters throughout the State of Texas within the meaning
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