A federal appeals court has issued a stay of a ruling that would have allowed Wisconsin voters to provide an affidavit instead of photo ID.
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A federal district court in Texas Wednesday effectively struck down the Lone Star State’s strict photo-ID law, allowing voters without identification to cast a regular ballot in the 2016 elections.
The trial court’s ruling, in turn, came in response to an appeals court ruling in April finding that the state’s 2011 voter ID law would likely prevent people from voting who had legitimate difficulties obtaining documentation to get IDs, and it tasked the trial court with coming up with a method to help those people.
The stay comes after a US district judge issued a ruling saying voters didn’t need a photo ID at the polls in November.
Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP chapter and an attorney in Austin, called the decision “a big step in our continuing fight to push back against discriminatory laws that have no place in the Lone Star State”.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge against Wisconsin’s voter ID law.
It was the first in a remarkable string of voting-rights victories, as federal courts in late July and early August ruled against the GOP’s efforts to make it harder to vote in six different states. The agreement also allows voters to use photo IDs such as a driver’s license or personal ID card from any state, expired or not. Democrats decried the requirement as an attempt to disenfranchise liberal-leaning voters such as minorities who are more likely to lack IDs.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay does not affect the law more broadly; it exclusively blocks the injunction from the district court from taking effect, pending appeal.
In practical effect, given the timing close to the election, this means no affidavit requirement will apply in the upcoming Wisconsin November elections unless this order is further reversed by the full 7th Circuit (sitting en banc) or by the Supreme Court. The state has also filed an appeal challenging that ruling. “If you don’t have an ID, go ahead and vote”. Since then, one judge has retired, leaving a 5-4 majority that has expressed skepticism of the Badger State’s voter ID law.
“There is a great sense of relief here in South Texas and the Corpus Christi community that thousands of voters need not worry about their ability to vote on Election Day”, said Daniel G. Covich of Covich Law Firm LLP.
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The three-judge appeals court panel said that approach was too lax, even if some accommodation was necessary for voters who could not get identification with reasonable effort.
