Federal Appeals Court Tosses Out Texas Voter ID Law

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...s-voter-id-law

A federal appeals court Wednesday struck down a voter ID law in Texas, saying it violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A 5th Circuit three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the law does not equate to a "poll tax" but does discriminate against minority voters.

The 2011 law, considered one of the toughest in the country, was in effect during the midterm elections last year. It was one of a handful of voter ID laws enacted in Republican-governed states. The Texas law required voters to provide certain forms of identification before they could cast a ballot.

Supporters of the law say strong ID is needed to prevent voter fraud. The law's detractors argue the requirements suppress legitimate voter turnout, particularly among minorities, who tend to vote for Democrats.

NPR's John Burnett reported in Wednesday's newscast that the Justice Department had argued that tens of thousands of minority voters would be prevented from casting ballots because they lacked one of seven types of approved ID card.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton says he will "continue to defend this important safeguard for all Texas voters."

According to the Dallas Morning News, Texas has a few options for how to proceed.

"Texas is likely to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the state also could ask the full 5th Circuit to review the case."

The case will now go back to a lower court for further review.


Before someone asks why this is important not only for Latinos but for other minorities.

http://billmoyers.com/2015/07/31/how...franchisement/

While I enjoy every bitchslap aimed at Texas I really wonder how do people (citizens no less), go about their daily lives without an ID. Like, you can't get a job, you can't board a plane, you can't even go to a store to buy a god damn beer.

I bet they were different judges than the ones that ruled against DACA+/DAPA.

I am sorry, I'm not keeping up with all the conversations I'm in. Long story short, our landlord wants to sell the house and we had 30 days to move out. So, I'm like 6 days away from sleeping under a bridge. More or less.

That's why I added a link for Bill Moyers and Co. They have a wealth of knowledge on the issue. Well, mostly elderly citizens are the ones at risk. However, it is not only what states and counties can do to prevent a fraud yet to be proven to exists. It is also what "concerned" citizens and organizations do. For instance in one area, groups of men wearing t-shirts saying "monitor" or "guard" where asking to see people's IDs before they entered the building to vote. It was enough to scare some folks into entering the building at all. On an article that I received in Facebook one organization claimed that Texas voting laws negated almost 35,000 Latinos the right to vote. That's a lot of people and it can make a huge difference at the local, state and national level.

It remind me of the Jim Crow laws in the South where you needed to pass a literacy test to be able to vote. Nothing wrong with it, I guess. Still, white people only had to write their name and black folk had to pass a college graduate level test. This is how they prevented blacks from voting.

I remember the Supreme Court decision. They considered getting an ID not an issue for an elderly citizen. Also the small amount of people being hurt by the law played a role. In the case of Texas (though, I'm not familiar with the case), it seems their laws made it harder for minorities which implies that maybe an ID was not enough to prove status. At least, that is what I'm getting but it is worth checking out...just not right now.