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US man who went viral for waiting 7 hours to vote is arrested for illegal voting

US man who went viral for waiting 7 hours to vote is arrested for illegal voting

Hervis Rogers

Hervis Rogers was praised as a persistent, civic-minded man who fought hard to exercise his right to vote after becoming viral on social media for being the last person in line at Texas Southern University to cast a vote at 1 am on Super Tuesday in March 2020.

“I wanted to get my vote in, voice my opinion,” he said after his long wait to cast his ballot in the 2020 election. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I waited it out.”

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But now, he has been arrested and charged with two counts of illegal voting on Wednesday, according to Houston Public Media.

The arrest took place only one day before the Texas Legislature gathered for a special session on Thursday, where a controversial voting law was on the agenda.

Cases like Rogers' are used by Republicans in favour of further voting restrictions as proof of an unsecured system.

In the 2020 presidential election, however, there was no indication of major voting fraud.

Rogers is being kept in jail because he cannot afford a $100,000 bond, as per Thomas Buser-Clancy, an attorney with the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who is representing Rogers.

(With inputs from agencies)