“He faces the possibility of an extremely harsh sentence,” he said. “Second degree crimes are usually reserved for grievous bodily harm, and to apply it to Mr. Rogers’ case, that only shows how unfair that is.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is under investigation for professional misconduct after challenging President Biden’s victory in court, brought charges against Mr. Rogers. He has made it his business to prosecute cases of voter fraud, which are very rare in the United States and are usually small mistakes when they happen.
“Hervis is a felon who is rightly banned from voting under TX law,” Paxton wrote on Twitter. “I pursue electoral fraud everywhere we find it!”
Republicans on battlefields in Texas and other states have been aggressively pushing to curtail electoral laws since former President Donald J. Trump made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. On Thursday, Republicans in the Texas legislature presented plans to overhaul the state’s electoral machinery for the second time this year. They outlined a number of proposed new restrictions on voting access that would be among the most far-reaching electoral laws to be passed this year.
For some, Mr. Rogers’ case sparked another recent indictment in the state.
In 2017, Crystal Mason was sentenced to five years in prison for casting a preliminary ballot in the 2016 presidential election while being released under custody for a federal tax fraud crime. Her preliminary ballot was not counted and her case is pending in the Texas Supreme Court of Appeals after Ms. Mason appealed.
After her conviction, Ms. Mason was held in federal prison for 10 months for violating her supervised release. If Ms. Mason loses her appeal, she will have to serve her five-year prison sentence, Ms. Grinter said.
Mr. Rogers and Ms. Mason could meet in the coming weeks, Ms. Grinter said.
“They share a bond that neither of them wanted at the time,” said Ms. Grinter. “She really feels for him and knows what it feels like to be made out of such a political sport.”
On Friday, Ms. Mason expressed her support for Mr. Rogers.
“I wish this had never happened to you,” wrote Ms. Mason on Twitter. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. Welcome to the fight. “
Michael Levenson contributed to the coverage.
