Voter IDs already been used in several Texas elections says A.G. Greg Abbott
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas State Republican leaders say the law aims to prevent fraud at the ballot box and that there is no evidence to show the law is discriminatory.
Democrats contend that poorer voters including many racial minorities are less likely to have state-issued IDs. Attorney General Eric Holder said in
July
that Texas would be the start of his push to overturn the Voter ID laws and
the trial in a Corpus Christi U.S. District Court begins Tuesday.
The trial heard by District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos is the latest stop in a prolonged three-year legal battle over the Voter ID measures passed in 2011 by the Texas Legislature and signed into law immediately thereafter by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Those 2011 Voter ID Laws require Texas voters to present a photo ID such as a concealed handgun license a drivers license or numerous other forms of commonly held ID but
excludes student IDs.
The trial is expected to last approximately two weeks with court-watchers saying a decision is expected to be handed down days before the Nov. 4 elections. Previous rulings have said November 2014s elections are to be held without distraction from the ongoing court case.
The office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in a statement shortly before the Corpus Christi trial was to begin said the law moves Texas in the right direction and toward greater protection of the states integrity for elections.
Voter ID has already been used in several elections in Texas without the dis-enfranchisement claimed by partisans who seem to be against election integrity said Attorney General Abbotts statement on Friday.
In the U.S. District Court Tuesday arguments will be presented and heard in a specific case concerning the law requiring voters to present photo identification. It is a move that state Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it a veiled attempt to suppress minority turnout.
The case is also part of a new Obama Administration strategy to challenge voting rights laws nationwide which it believes discriminate by race in order to counter a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving individual states more leeway from strict federal oversight.
The administration sees such statutes as discriminatory and has launched a nationwide roll-out of cases to work around Shelby County v. Holder the Alabama case in which the
Supreme Court on June 25th invalidated a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
President Obamas Attorney General Eric Holder has said Texas has a history of pervasive voting-related discrimination against racial minorities that the Supreme Court itself has recognized.
