The evidence is piling up: If the law allows Texas and other states to discriminate, they will discriminate. Photo voter ID laws, which require voters to offer photographic proof that they are who they say they are, have been flopping in federal courts across the country. The Texas law took a blow from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and was sent back to the trial court to put something better in place in time for the November elections. The court said the Texas law had a racially discriminatory effect. Importantly, it asked the trial court to decide whether that had been the state’s intent. Parts of Wisconsin’s voter ID law were knocked down by a federal judge who said the state was disenfranchising voters because of its “preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud.” The state is appealing that decision.
North Carolina’s law was successfully challenged; a federal appeals court found that state had intentionally discriminated “with almost surgical precision” against black voters.
This week, a federal judge froze North Dakota’s voter ID law, saying it made it harder for some Native Americans in that state to vote. The judge didn’t strike the law altogether, but state officials say they’ll revert to their old laws for this year’s election.
It’s not just voter ID laws. Litigation over political districts drawn in 2011 by legislators for congressional and Texas House races is still pending in federal court in San Antonio. In the meantime, interim maps have been used in 2012, 2014 and through this year’s primaries. It looks like they’ll be in place for the general election.
Full Article: Analysis: Texas Voters Take Hit While Judges Ponder Election Laws | The Texas Tribune.
