Courts are coming down hard on state voter laws, which are allowing more people to vote and halting any voting loopholes you may see in the November election.
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In the past, voters could cast provisional ballots, but if they didn’t come up with a specific form of ID, their votes would not count.
Texas has agreed to spend at least $2.5 million for a public outreach campaign to educate voters about the new procedures by no later than August 15.
A voter enters a polling station to cast his vote in the Texas Primary in Seguin, Texas, U.S. March 4, 2008.
A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was meant to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state.
Opponents of the law say the ruling should increase participation by black and Hispanic voters on Election Day in the state that also has closely contested races for U.S. Senate and governor.
Rushing to establish the rules of the road for the upcoming national elections, federal courts in recent weeks have issued a cascade of decisions rolling back restrictive voting laws enacted in the aftermath of a major Supreme Court decision.
That was followed by courts Friday dealing setbacks to Republican efforts in three other states to restrict voting: blocking a North Carolina law requiring photo identification, loosening a similar measure in Wisconsin and halting strict citizenship requirements in Kansas.
Under the new terms, registered voters will be able to vote without a photo ID, according to a copy of the rules provided by the state attorney general’s office.
Hasen said the Obama administration took on the North Carolina and Texas cases as a bulwark against voting restrictions.
Supporters of these laws have said they are necessary to prevent voter fraud.
North Dakota’s voter-identification requirement is on hold after a federal judge sided Monday with a group of Native Americans who said the law unfairly burdens them. The new version would add a litany of other documents, including a certified birth certificate, utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck.
When they were first proposed, voter ID laws sounded reasonable to lots of people, including the Supreme Court.
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Before the July 5th Circuit slapdown of a Texas’ 2011-passed law, only those specific forms of ID would’ve been accepted.
