The changes to the law come after a federal appeals court ruled that the state’s law has a discriminatory effect against minority voters and must be changed for the election in November.
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These proposed rules are significantly broader than the seven allowable forms of photo ID that Texas previously insisted voters show, a restriction that a federal appeals court declared last month was biased against minority and poor voters.
Opponents argued as many as 600,000 legal voters in the state – a majority of them racial minorities – could have been turned away because they lacked the proper ID to vote.
Under the deal struck with voting rights advocates, Texas will let voters without a photo ID sign an affidavit and cast a ballot. State leaders and civil rights groups reached a compromise Wednesday, agreeing to water down a controversial law requiring all voters to show valid photo ID in order to obtain access to the voting booth on Election Day.
A federal judge must still approve the changes. Voting restrictions in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas and North Dakota have also been blocked in recent weeks.
Toulouse Oliver said any focus on voter ID takes the focus off improving accountability and campaign finance reforms. He said the law has wide support in Texas to defend the integrity of elections.
Critics of the voter ID law said it, and similar statutes that have been passed in Republican-governed states, were meant to make it harder for minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats, to vote.
A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. That will allow them to cast a regular full ballot, and their vote will be counted. A court isn’t done considering whether Texas had the same motives, but for now, the state and U.S. Justice Department agreed on looser voter ID rules to get through this election year.
Other states also have had election rules sidelined for the coming November election. Trump suggested at a rally Monday that he fears the general election “is going to be rigged” without offering any immediate evidence. This may seem a little suspicious, as you might imagine candidates pulling people off the streets to vote for them, but it’s a bit more intricate than you think. Voters will now be able to present voter registration cards, birth certificates, utility bills, paycheck stubs and government documents with the voter’s name and address as acceptable forms of ID.
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Voter ID laws, a repugnant trend in American politics, may be running their course just in time for this November’s important election. Election officials will also not be allowed to question anyone without a photo ID.
