🟡Relating to accommodating voters with a disability; creating a criminal offense.
HB 521
🟡 HB 521: Criminal Charges for Skipping a Voter Help Form
What it says it does:
HB 521 aims to protect curbside voting for people with disabilities and crack down on illegal ballot harvesting. It adds new rules about who can assist voters and what paperwork they must file.
What it actually changes:
If someone helps seven or more people vote curbside, they must fill out a specific form and turn it in. If they don’t, even by accident, they can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor. Voters themselves must also sign a legal oath to qualify for curbside help.
Who is pushing for it:
Supporters in the files include members of the State Republican Executive Committee, Harris County ballot security advocates, and the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities.
Who benefits:
The Secretary of State gains full control over how assistance forms are created, tracked, and enforced. Ballot integrity advocates gain a new enforcement mechanism tied to paperwork compliance.
Who gets left out or exposed:
Caregivers, volunteers, and community members who help others vote can now be punished for paperwork errors. Voters with invisible or fluctuating disabilities may avoid curbside help due to fear of legal challenges.
Why this matters long term:
This bill sets a precedent for criminalizing voter assistance based on quantity, not intent. It also shifts discretion away from local election officials and into a central state agency with no built-in public oversight.
What to watch next:
Whether counties receive support for these new mandates. Whether future bills expand the seven-voter rule to other forms of assistance. Whether volunteer turnout drops in high-need areas.
Bottom line:
HB 521 introduces new tracking and accountability in the name of election integrity, but it does so by punishing ordinary Texans who help others vote. The risks aren’t about fraud, they’re about paperwork.
#HB521 #TexasPolicy #TexasElections #DisabilityRights #CurbsideVoting #WatchTheRules