Texas’ voter identification law violates federal laws prohibiting electoral discrimination and must be amended before the November election, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the heart of the 2011 state law, widely viewed as one of the nation’s strictest requirements, ruling that it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The ruling does not nullify the entirety of the law, so voters will still need to show identification at the polls in November. But a lower court will need to create some form of interim relief until it can develop a more comprehensive solution for those who face obstacles to obtaining an ID. “The record shows that drafters and proponents of SB 14 were aware of the likely disproportionate effect of the law on minorities, and that they nonetheless passed the bill without adopting a number of proposed ameliorative measures that might have lessened this impact,” Judge Catharina Haynes wrote in the ruling.
Although the court found some of the arguments made in previous court cases to be legitimate, “there remains evidence to support a finding that the cloak of ballot integrity could be hiding a more invidious purpose,” Haynes wrote.
Critics, including voting rights groups and many of the state’s most prominent Democrats, have long contended that the law had discriminatory effects against Hispanic and African-American voters and have been challenging it since its passage.
“Texas Republicans’ discriminatory voter ID law has held some 700,000 Texans away from their right to vote for many elections now,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a prepared statement reacting to the decision. “Unfortunately, that damage by Republicans has already been done to our families. However, we can now look forward to a fairer election system, worthy of our great state. This is a huge win for voting rights in Texas and across our nation.”
Full Article: Appeals court calls Texas voter ID law discriminatory, orders changes | Dallas Morning News.