Federal Court Orders Texas to Change Voter ID Law Before November

[link to www.wsj.com]

7/20/16

snip(s):

Ruling says law violates the Voting Rights Act

"WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court Wednesday found a Texas voter-identification law discriminates against blacks and Hispanics, and ordered that temporary remedies be put in place by the November election.

By a 9-6 vote, the full Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the law violated the Voting Rights Act. The court returned the case to a federal district judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, to fashion a remedy in time for Election Day that corrects the law’s “discriminatory effect, while respecting the Legislature’s stated objective to safeguard the integrity of elections by requiring more secure forms of voter identification.”

The remedy in Texas could look like one announced Tuesday by a federal district court in Milwaukee, which found similar problems with Wisconsin’s voter-ID law. The judge there ordered the state to accept affidavits from affected voters affirming they were unable to obtain the required documentation in time for Election Day.

“The court sent a message that discriminatory photo ID laws are an affront to our democracy,” said Myrna Perez, an attorney with the Brennan Center for Justice, one of the organizations representing minority voters who challenged the Texas law.

Ms. Perez said that about 600,000 of the 10 million registered voters in Texas lack the state-specified identification. The Texas law, enacted in 2011, is considered among the nation’s most restrictive voter-ID requirements."