Texas ordered to rewrite voter ID lawAUSTIN, Texas – Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities and the poor and must be weakened before the November elections, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, giving more than a half-million registered voters a likely easier path to casting a ballot.
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But he added that the plaintiffs victory was not as great as it would have been if the court had struck down the law entirely. The law requires voters to show a government-issued form of ID before voting and places strict parameters on which types of identification are acceptable; the court found these restrictions to disproportionately affect minority voters.
Within hours of the Shelby County decision, Texas began enforcing its photo ID requirement for voters (the law is popularly known as “SB 14”).
The majority opinion instructed the trial court that if it did stray from that postponement recommendation that it should not put into effect before the November election any remedy based on finding the Texas lawmakers had discriminatory intent. The state and other supporters say the Texas law prevents fraud, while opponents say there are few cases of voter fraud.
“The court sent a message that discriminatory photo ID laws are an affront to our democracy and can not stand”, Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, said in a statement.
In March of 2016, the state convinced the Fifth Circuit Court ― considered the most conservative of all 11 USA appeals courts ― to reconsider the case all over again. “The most restrictive and discriminatory Republican voter ID law in [the] country has been struck down”.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton described the ruling as “unfortunate” and said it “is imperative that the state government safeguards our elections and ensures the integrity of our democratic process”.
Experts have testified that more than 600,000 Texans lack such identification, though not all of them have necessarily tried to vote.
As an example, critics of the law have pointed to the acceptability of a concealed handgun license as photo ID to vote.
This article will be updated as Texas officials and other stakeholders offer public statements on the matter.
Second, the two judges who did not fully join the Haynes opinion – Circuit Judges Gregg Costa and James L. Dennis – each wrote a separate opinion dissenting on the discriminatory intent question.
That set up Wednesday’s ruling, in which the full 5th Circuit rejected the notion that the law was like a poll tax, but upheld the previous decision that its effect was nonetheless discriminatory. “Voter ID laws are a ruse, only used to deny the right to vote to minorities, low-income citizens, the elderly and other vulnerable populations”.
President Barack Obama and Senator John Lewis who was at the signing of the original Voting Rights Act, Aug. 6, 2015, on the 50th anniversary of the law. We are extremely pleased with this outcome.
The law, passed in 2011 by a Republican-controlled legislature, was in effect during three statewide elections.
A federal court ruled that Texas’ voter ID law was unconstitutional, resulting in a win for voter rights advocates. Though some evidence “could support” that conclusion, the ruling said, the overall findings were “infirm”. Abbott also appealed the ruling to the 5th Circuit panel.
“Voter fraud is real”, Abbott said, “and Texas will continue to make sure there is no illegal voting”.
It’s not clear what that court’s remedy might look like. Many political observers have said that the Texas law, was the toughest in the nation and must be relaxed to allow people to vote in the upcoming elections.
Though Paxton didn’t specify, it is possible that the state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in with an emergency ruling ahead of the election.
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After each loss, Texas has appealed.
