A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Texas's new version of its voter-ID law can go into effect, rebuking a lower court judge for trying to block the law and delivering a significant victory to voter integrity advocates.
The original law passed earlier this decade had been blocked after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded both its purpose and effect was to punish minority voters.
"The court rightly recognized that when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 last session, it complied with every change the 5th Circuit ordered to the original voter ID law," he said.
The new law includes a longer list of ID options that are acceptable for voting purposes, allows people to use expired identification for even longer and requires mobile dispensaries to dole out election identification documents to those who might not otherwise have a valid ID for voting purposes.
A lower court had ruled that because the original law was illegal, and the new version updates the old law, it doesn't eliminate the original discrimination "Root and branch."
Judge Edith H. Jones, writing for the appeals court majority, said the lower court overlooked the "Obvious improvements" in the new law.
Judge James E. Graves Jr., an Obama appointee, wrote a dissent defending the lower court's ruling and saying the updated law can still be judged based on the original, discriminatory law.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/27/appeals-court-restores-texas-voter-id-law/
The original law passed earlier this decade had been blocked after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded both its purpose and effect was to punish minority voters.
"The court rightly recognized that when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 last session, it complied with every change the 5th Circuit ordered to the original voter ID law," he said.
The new law includes a longer list of ID options that are acceptable for voting purposes, allows people to use expired identification for even longer and requires mobile dispensaries to dole out election identification documents to those who might not otherwise have a valid ID for voting purposes.
A lower court had ruled that because the original law was illegal, and the new version updates the old law, it doesn't eliminate the original discrimination "Root and branch."
Judge Edith H. Jones, writing for the appeals court majority, said the lower court overlooked the "Obvious improvements" in the new law.
Judge James E. Graves Jr., an Obama appointee, wrote a dissent defending the lower court's ruling and saying the updated law can still be judged based on the original, discriminatory law.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/27/appeals-court-restores-texas-voter-id-law/
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