The Democrats behind a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s voter ID law will appeal last week’s loss in district court to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the lead attorney said Thursday. The group filed its notice of appeal Wednesday, and will ask for an expedited review by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond. “We look forward to the Court of Appeals considering this important case as quickly as possible,” attorney Marc Elias said in an email. “It would be inexplicable and disappointing for the state to try to slow walk the appeal in this case. The citizens of Virginia deserve a prompt hearing in time to avoid disenfranchising voters in advance of the 2016 election.”
The suit, Lee v. Virginia State Board of Elections, seeks to overturn the state’s requirement that voters bring photo ID to the polls, arguing that it unconstitutionally targets minority voters, senior citizens and others less likely to have photo ID. Those groups tend to lean toward Democrats, and the law was passed under a Republican majority in state government.
Elias, general counsel for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, represents the Democratic Party of Virginia, as well as other Democrats in the state, in this suit. His firm, Perkins Coie, has brought a number of election law challenges in various states ahead of the 2016 general elections, including a pair of redistricting suits here in Virginia.
Full Article: Virginia Democrats to appeal voter ID case – Daily Press.