Bryant v. Harris County

What this case is about

This is a federal class-action lawsuit filed in early 2026 against Harris County, Texas, and County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth. Four Harris County voters with print disabilities — Cedric Bryant, Ted Galanos, Louis Maher, and Michael McCulloch — together with the National Federation of the Blind of Texas (NFB-TX), are suing because Harris County only provides paper mail-in ballots to voters with disabilities. The lawsuit is heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The plaintiffs say a paper ballot is impossible for them to read and mark on their own. They have to ask a sighted friend or family member to help — which means giving up the right to a secret ballot that every other voter gets. Harris County already runs an electronic Remote Accessible Vote-by-Mail (RAVBM) system for military and overseas voters. The lawsuit argues there's no legal or practical reason Harris County can't extend that same system to voters with print disabilities. Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the current paper-only system unlawful, order Harris County to implement an accessible electronic vote-by-mail system, and award attorneys' fees and costs. The lawsuit doesn't seek individual money damages. Disability Rights Texas estimates more than 100,000 Harris County voters have print disabilities that could keep them from independently voting by mail. The case is in its early phases and is expected to take years to resolve.

Who may qualify

This case is for Harris County voters with print disabilities who can't read or mark a paper mail-in ballot independently. You may be part of the class if all of the following apply: - You're a registered voter in Harris County, Texas. - You have a disability that affects your ability to read, hold, or mark printed material — including blindness, low vision, finger or hand impairments, paralysis, or other conditions that make handling a paper ballot difficult or impossible without help. - You're eligible to vote by mail under Texas law. You don't need to have already tried to vote by mail and been turned away. The lawsuit covers anyone in this group of voters, not just the four named plaintiffs.

What helps your case

The following documentation, while not required for class membership, supports the class-membership inquiry and any individualized relief: - Voter registration records establishing Harris County residency and current registration status. - Medical, ophthalmological, or rehabilitation documentation establishing the qualifying disability and its functional impact on reading, marking, or handling printed materials. - Correspondence with the Harris County Clerk's Office evidencing prior accommodation requests and the County's responses (or non-responses). - Records of mail-in voting attempts requiring sighted or third-party assistance, including election dates and the nature of the assistance required. - Documentation of any use of assistive technology (screen readers, Braille displays, adaptive switches) that would enable independent access to an electronic ballot. Class membership is established by status (qualified Harris County voter with a print disability eligible to vote by mail), not by documentary proof of attempt-and-denial. Counsel will request such documentation when needed to perfect individualized relief.

How to document what happened

For class members documenting current or prospective experience with Harris County's mail-ballot system: At ballot request: - Submit a written request to the Harris County Clerk's Office specifying the need for an accessible electronic ballot as a reasonable accommodation. Reference 28 C.F.R. § 35.160 and Title II's program-access obligation. - Preserve all written correspondence, including email headers, postmarks, and any electronic-delivery confirmations. At ballot receipt and marking: - Document the format received (paper only, or accessible electronic). - If reliance on sighted assistance was necessary, log the assistant's identity, the time and duration of assistance, and the nature of the marking process (whether the assistant read aloud, marked at direction, or both). - Photograph or scan any ballot materials received, redacting marked selections after submission. At return: - Preserve postmarks, delivery confirmations, and any return correspondence. For systemic documentation: - Maintain a running log of each election cycle and the County's response to accommodation requests. - Preserve all communications with the Clerk's Office regardless of medium. Class counsel (Disability Rights Texas, Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP) will request such records when perfecting individualized relief or supporting class-certification briefing.

What if you don’t have documentation?

Absence of documentary records does not foreclose class membership. The class definition is status-based — Harris County registration plus qualifying print disability plus mail-ballot eligibility — and does not require documented prior attempts to access the mail-ballot system. Class members who lack contemporaneous records should consider these parallel avenues: - Direct contact with Disability Rights Texas (class counsel) at disabilityrightstx.org, which is actively building the class member list and can advise on individual fit. - Filing an administrative complaint with the DOJ Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section under 28 C.F.R. § 35.170, or with the Voting Section under the Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act enforcement authorities. DOJ has independent enforcement authority over Title II voting-access claims and previously reached a 2019 settlement with Harris County addressing polling-place accessibility. - Submitting an accommodation request to the Harris County Clerk's Office in writing to create a contemporaneous record. Even if denied, the request establishes facts useful to the litigation. - Documenting current and future mail-ballot needs prospectively: requesting an accessible ballot for each upcoming election and preserving the County's response.

What this case doesn’t cover

Scope limitations of this action: - Geographic scope is limited to Harris County, Texas. Parallel claims against other Texas counties or state-level claims against the Texas Secretary of State would require separate enforcement. (Note: a federal court already ordered Bexar County, Texas to provide accessible electronic ballots in 2023 in a separate, similar action.) - The action addresses the mail-in voting program specifically. Polling-place accessibility, voter-machine accessibility (for which Harris County does provide accessible options under HAVA), and signature-matching practices are outside the pleaded scope. Polling-place barriers were addressed in part by a separate 2019 DOJ settlement with Harris County. - Other Title II voting access issues — voter-roll maintenance, language-access claims under § 203 of the Voting Rights Act, ID-requirement challenges — are not pleaded here. - Title II does not provide for compensatory damages absent proof of intentional discrimination under the Olmstead framework; the relief sought is declaratory and injunctive. Section 504 may provide for individualized compensatory remedies in cases of deliberate indifference. - The class definition is constrained to print-disabled voters; voters with mobility, hearing, or cognitive impairments unrelated to reading or marking printed material are not within the pleaded class. For barriers outside this case's scope, parallel enforcement avenues include DOJ administrative complaints, complaints to the Texas Secretary of State's office, and analogous private actions in state court under the Texas Election Code's accessibility provisions.

Legal theory

ADA Title II + Section 504

Named defendants

• Harris County, Texas

Case facts

Type

Class action

Affected states

TX

Court

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division

Filed

2026-02-03

Who to contact

Check who each contact can help before you call — most of them cover one place or one group of people.

• Lawyers on this case

  Disability Rights Texas

  Taking enquiries about this case.

  Phone 1-800-252-9108

  TTY 1-866-362-2851

  intake.DRTx.org

  For registered Harris County, Texas voters who are blind or cannot read or mark a paper ballot. Texas's protection and advocacy agency, and they take intake directly.

• Law firm

  Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP

  browngold.com

  Co-counsel on this case with Disability Rights Texas. Same Harris County voters.

Key dates

Status

Early pleadings

Complaint filed

2026-02-03

Related precedent

Bexar County RAVBM order, 2023

Class certification

Not yet briefed

Defendant's response

Pending

Pre-suit negotiation

2023-2024 (ended Nov 2024)