AUSTIN — A federal appeals court ruled on July 20 that Texas’ strict voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act and ordered changes before the November election.
The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals instructs a lower court to make changes that fix the “discriminatory effect” of the 2011 law, but to do so in a way that disrupts this year’s election season as little as possible.
President Barack Obama’s administration took the unusual step of deploying the weight of the U.S. Justice Department into the case when it challenged the law, which requires Texas residents to show one of seven forms of approved identification. The state and other supporters say the Texas law prevents fraud. Opponents say it discriminates by requiring forms of ID that are more difficult to obtain for low-income, African-American and Latino voters.
“We are extremely pleased with this outcome. This law will no longer prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot this November,” attorney Gerry Herbert, a member of the legal team that challenged the law, said following Wednesday’s ruling.
The Texas Democratic Party also immediately celebrated, declaring that “the most restrictive and discriminatory Republican voter ID law in country has been struck down.”
The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit agreed to rehear the issue after a three-judge panel ruled last year that the law violated the Voting Rights Act.
Lawyers for Texas have argued that the state makes free IDs easy to obtain. They said any inconveniences or costs involved in getting one do not substantially burden the right to vote, and that the Justice Department and other plaintiffs had failed to prove that the law resulted in denying anyone the right to vote.
