A rally for voting rights outside the Texas State Capitol, July 2021 (Eric Gay/AP)

The Justice Department sues Texas over the state’s restrictions on voting rights.

In its filing, the Department argues that the measure, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, disenfranchises Texans who do not speak English, the disabled, older voters, and absentee voters who live outside the US.

The law also allegedly violates the Voting Rights Act by limiting the help that poll workers can provide, and the Civil Rights Act by requiring mail-in ballots to be thrown out if they fail to include a voter’s current driver’s license number, an election identification number, or part of a Social Security number.

Signed by Abbott in September, the Texas bill restricts mail-in ballots and dropboxes, while expanding the authority of partisan poll watchers.

On Tuesday, US Senate Republicans blocked consideration of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which seeks to bolster the 1965 Voting Rights Act weakened by Supreme Court decisions. Republicans in Washington have also used the filibuster to block the Freedom to Vote Act on three occasions.

With the GOP blockade at Federal level, Republicans in 19 states have passed at least 33 laws putting up barriers to voting.

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In June, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Georgia’s law, claiming that it intentionally discriminates against Black voters.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Thursday, “Our democracy depends on the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot and to have that ballot counted.”

The head of the department’s civil rights division, Kristen Clarke, added that the Texas restrictions on aid by poll workers and the requirements for absentee ballots were “unlawful and indefensible”.

But Gov. Abbott, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump, declared on Twitter: