The fight over the state’s embattled voter ID laws should be over, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued in a new court document filed late Tuesday. Paxton, as expected, filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals calling for the judges to end a challenge to the state’s new voter ID law for good. In his 101-page document, the Republican argued that because the state has already added new exceptions to the law to allow people who have a reasonable-impediment to getting an ID to still vote, the case should be officially concluded. “This case should be over,” Paxton’s brief states.
In August, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a permanent injuction against the state’s newest voter ID law, calling it a “poll tax” on minority voters. In September, a federal appeals court blocked that ruling from going into full effect in order to hear the merits for and against the state’s appeal.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the 5th Circuit has scheduled a hearing on the state’s voter ID law for the first week of December in New Orleans.
Since 2011 when the Texas Legislature first passed new laws requiring voter to present an ID to vote, the law has been under challenge from critics who have argued that it hurts people without IDs, particularly minority voters. Supporters of the ID laws say they are needed to help protect against voter fraud.
Full Article: Challenge to Texas voter ID law should be over, AG argues – Houston Chronicle.
