Texas' voter ID law

Judge issues blueprint for fixes in Texas' voter ID law
 
By David Saleh Rauf

Texas will have to engage in a "meaningful" education campaign about its beleaguered voter ID law and some people lacking required photo identification may be allowed to once again use voter registration cards to cast ballots in the November election, a federal judge said Thursday.

In a two-page order, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi provided the first blueprint for potential fixes for Texas' voter ID measure - one day after a federal appeals court said the law violates federal protections against discrimination at the ballot box.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, largely considered one of the most conservative courts in the country, dealt Texas Republicans a big hit in ruling that the law violates a key section of the Voting Rights Act.

The court sent the case back to Ramos, who ruled last year the law flouts federal protections for blacks and Hispanics. She was ordered to make changes before the presidential election to ensure it no longer unfairly harms poor and minority Texas residents.

Democrats and minority groups estimate more than 600,000 registered Texas voters, or about 4.5 percent of all registered voters in the state, were disenfranchised under the law because they did not have an acceptable form of identification.

The potential menu of options to remedy the measure ahead of the presidential election is vast, according to lawyers suing the state. A hearing to decide the matter has been scheduled for Aug. 17.

Ramos, however, narrowed the criteria for acceptable changes in her order, saying temporary fixes "must include" elements such as a safety net for people with an "impediment or indigency exception" who can't obtain one of the seven approved photo IDs needed to vote. One potential solution on that front, Ramos wrote, is to revert back to a system of allowing voter registration cards to pass as acceptable ID for such voters.

Ramos could also seek to mirror other states with similar photo ID laws by allowing some poor voters to sign an affidavit to cast a ballot. A federal judge earlier this week required Wisconsin to start allowing the affidavit option for voters who face a "reasonable impediment" to obtaining a valid Photo ID.

Gerry Hebert, a prominent election lawyer involved in the Texas voter ID case, said there is already discussion underway among attorneys about an affidavit procedure but said that's just one of many different ideas being floated.

"It will be up to the court to weigh all these things," he said, noting that the 5th Circuit also raised the idea of reinstating voter registration cards as valid identification for some voters.

Lawyers for minority groups could also ask Ramos to expand the list of acceptable identifications to also include IDs from colleges and employers. But Ramos cautioned that changes to the law would not include an "ID that is easily counterfeited."

Supporters of the measure have said the law was passed to prevent voter fraud, while opponents have argued it exists only to prevent blacks and Hispanics from voting. The law has now been found to discriminate against minority voters for the fourth time by a federal court, but the most recent ruling is the biggest blow because it all but guarantees the law will be weakened.

The 5th Circuit instructed Ramos to fix the law while "respecting the Legislature's stated objective to safeguard the integrity of elections by requiring more secure forms of voter identification."

Jose Garza, a lawyer for the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, which is a plaintiff in the case, said that the 5th Circuit essentially instructed Ramos "not to go crazy in terms of the relief."

"I don't think it's going to be anything radical," he said. "It's probably not going to reach all of the 600,000 or 700,000 people whose individual stories are different and who can't get a voter ID."

Ramos also included in her order that "state must educate the public in a meaningful way about SB 14 ID requirements and all exceptions to those requirements" and that Texas will also have to re-educate and train poll workers to comply with changes.

Attorney General Ken Paxton's office did not return a request for comment Thursday about potential remedies. But during oral argument in front of the full 15 judges of the 5th Circuit, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller told the court if the state had to deal with a change to the law the most palatable would be something similar to an indigent affidavit used in Indiana.

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is part of the Texas voter ID case, said affidavits used in states with voter ID laws can vary widely in terms of providing access to the ballot box.

"An affidavit is a possible form of a remedy. But the devil is in the details," she said. "For us it's going to be critical an affidavit serves as a vehicle for any willing voters to cast a ballot as freely and securely as possible."