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August 24, 2017

Judge Blocks Revised Texas Voter ID Law, Saying Law is Still Discriminatory
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A federal judge has again blocked Texas's harsh voter ID law, saying the
revised version of the law does not correct the discrimination in the
earlier version, and in fact could even further restrict voting rights.
The Texas law, first imposed in 2011, created a list of IDs required to
vote that skewed heavily toward IDs carried by whites, such as gun
licenses, while excluding IDs often carried by people of color, such as
government employee IDs and public university IDs.

The new version does not expand the list of acceptable IDs. Instead, it
allows people without the IDs to vote if they bring additional paperwork
and sign an affidavit. But Judge Gonzales Ramos says the criminal
penalties attached to lying on the affidavit could deter people from
voting because they could fear prosecution if they make an honest
mistake on the form.


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