“Texas Workforce Commission changes voter registration practices after pressure from civil rights groups”

Release:

 In a change of course, effective February 21, 2018, the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”) will begin the process of implementing voter registration services to those served by its Vocational Rehabilitation program. The change comes after the agency received a notice from civil rights groups earlier this month notifying it of potential litigation if it failed to change its practices.

Since TWC took over vocational rehabilitation services from the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (“DARS”) in September of 2016, it has failed to provide voter registration services to Texans with disabilities using its rehabilitation services. This inaction violated the federal National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”), which requires Texas to provide voter registration services to people with disabilities who obtain vocational rehabilitation services from state agencies, and affected over 74,000 people with disabilities annually.

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