Ruling Offers Texas Voter ID Critics Narrow Victory

The three-judge panel ruled that Texas’ strict voter ID requirements, which are among the most rigorous in the country, disproportionately discriminate against blacks and Hispanics by making it more hard for them to vote. It requires one of seven forms of approved identification, a list that included concealed carry licenses but not a college student’s university ID.

“I’m hopeful that at least at this point, for upcoming elections, voter ID would not be present since we had a trial court rule it unconstitutional and now the Fifth Circuit”, said Elfant. The U.S. Justice Department had joined minority groups in a drawn-out legal battle that has stretched for years.

The panel also tossed out Ramos’ holding that Texas’ voter ID law amounts to a poll tax, a reference to the now-illegal practice of Southern states to disenfranchise African-American voters.

Abbott responded Wednesday to the ruling by reiterating his often-stated belief that the state’s voter ID law is needed to prevent voter fraud and “cheating at the ballot box”.

Texas’ four-year-old voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act but is not a “poll tax” barred under the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Apparently referring to that part of the ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was a “victory on the fundamental question of Texas’s right to protect the integrity of our elections”, adding that “our state’s common sense voter ID law remains in effect”.

In its ruling, the 5th Circuit panel overturned Ramos’ judgment that Texas’ voter ID law was created with a racially discriminatory goal. It was initially blocked after a ruling that it could violate the Voting Rights Act.

A federal appeals court struck down Texas’ voter ID law on Wednesday in a victory for President Barack Obama, whose administration took the unusual step of bringing the weight of the U.S. Justice Department to fight a wave of new ballot-box restrictions passed in conservative statehouses.

Veasey, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, has said the law puts a burden on the voter.

Texas is further along the appellate process than any other state with an active voter ID law challenge, meaning the state’s law is most likely to land at the Supreme Court.

But it also said legislators had intentionally adopted a discriminatory law, a conclusion that could have led to a restoration of federal oversight over Texas voting laws.

Experts say that more than 600,000 Texans lack such identification, though not all of them have necessarily tried to vote.

“I strongly disagree with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which rejected a portion of that law”, the Republican said.

Texas Democrats began to celebrate the decision shortly after it was released.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed an amicus brief in the case to strike down the law, hailed the decision that came near the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.