Last week, Texas agreed to substantially soften its new voter ID law ahead of November’s election, allowing voters there to cast ballots this fall even if they do not have one of the required photo IDs. The Texas agreement was the latest in a string of victories for voting rights groups–but there are still more than a dozen states with new voting restrictions in place since 2012. And what’s more, the high level of legal churn with mere months to go until Election Day creates the possibility for confusion at the polls, including in a handful of key battleground states. “There is a lot that’s in flux right now,” said Jennifer Clark, counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “This is really sort of the high season for litigating these restrictions … if the election were held today, there would be 15 states where voters will find a more difficult time at the polls than the last time they went to vote for president in 2012.” Among those 15 states cited by the Brennan Center’s research are traditional swing states like New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia–as well as some states that could be on the verge of competitive, like Arizona and Georgia. New Hampshire and Virginia both have new, stricter voter ID laws in place, for example; Ohio has changed its rules for absentee and provisional ballots.
Proponents of voter ID laws, which have largely been spearheaded by Republican-led legislatures around the country, argue that they’re a necessary safeguard against the threat of voter fraud. Just last week, GOP nominee Donald Trump suggested in an interview that people could vote “like 10 times” in states without strict voter ID laws.
… Research has pushed back on the idea that voter fraud is widespread, with one report stating one is more likely to be struck by lightning than found to be impersonating someone else at the polls. And a Washington Post investigation found just 31 credible instances of voter fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of an estimated 1 billion ballots cast in the U.S. during that period.
Voting rights groups argue that new restrictions like voter ID laws disproportionately affect certain segments of the population–many of which are key parts of the Democratic coalition. Young people, minorities and lower-income voters, especially in urban areas, can often lack the time or means necessary to obtain a government-issued photo ID.
Full Article: Despite recent rulings, voter ID laws could still scramble calculus in November – CBS News.