An agreement between the State of Texas and groups that attempted to strike down the state’s photo voter identification law came to an agreement Wednesday that will keep the election integrity policy largely in place for the November elections and thereafter..
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Texas must also spend at least $2.5 million on voter outreach before November, according to the agreement submitted to U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who must still approve the changes.
Courts in several states have ruled against strict voter identification laws over the past few weeks, offering something to celebrate for those who think such laws are discriminatory.
Opponents of the law say more than 600,000 registered voters in Texas had lacked the photo identification that was required to cast a ballot.
Under the deal struck with voting rights advocates, Texas will let voters without a photo ID sign an affidavit and cast a ballot.
These voting battles are far from over, but for those states like North Carolina that are making an 11th hour pitch to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to block the appeals court ruling, there may not be the votes to do that. They will now be able to provide voter registration cards, certified birth certificates, utility bills, government checks, pay stubs or bank statements with their names and addresses on them.
The Texas attorney general’s office agreed to a deal Wednesday that increases the number of viable identification options voters can present at the polls. State attorney generals had a hard time proving protection of the democratic process, while not also causing an undue burden on some voters, King said.
Trump is expected to win Texas but the shift in the voter ID law could affect four or five local races, said Mark Jones, a professor in political science at Rice University in Texas.
The voter ID mandate, which took effect in March, required people casting ballots in person to show one of six qualifying IDs, although voters facing “reasonable impediments” could fill out a form and cast a provisional ballot.
Now North Carolina’s law has been overturned as well-and the court in that case actually ruled that the law was intentionally created to discriminate against African-American voters. Election officials would be prohibited from questioning a voter’s inability to obtain an ID under the Texas law.
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It looks as if the dominoes continue to fall in regards to voter ID laws.
