- Texas « Press
Releases on Texas Voter ID Law
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
July 20, 2016
This marks the fourth court to find that the law has a disproportionate impact on African-American and Latino voters in Texas.
A federal trial court and a Fifth Circuit panel both found the law violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by denying African-American and Latino voters an equal opportunity to cast a ballot. The law was also previously blocked under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. It was implemented in 2013, immediately after the Supreme Court gutted a core provision of the Voting Rights Act.
The Texas State Conference of the NAACP and MALC challenged the Texas law in September 2013. That case was consolidated with other similar cases and is now known as Veasey v. Abbott. The attorneys representing the groups include the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the national office of the NAACP, Dechert LLP, The Bledsoe Law Firm, the Law Offices of Jose Garza, the Law Office of Robert S. Notzon, and the Covich Law Firm, P.C.
“Today’s ruling by the Fifth Circuit confirms what we have long known to be true – Texas’s voter ID law, one of the most restrictive barriers to the ballot box in the nation, has a discriminatory effect on minority voters and violates the Voting Rights Act,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “SB 14 limited or denied the right to vote to more than 600,000 registered voters in the state of Texas, a number that included African Americans, Latinos, poor people, students and the elderly. Today’s decision will have immediate impact on the November 2016 election cycle and will help ensure that more people are able to participate and vote in elections across the state of Texas.”
“No American should ever lose their right to vote just because they don’t have a photo ID. This is an enormous victory for voters in Texas,” said Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “The votes of more than 600,000 Texans were at stake in today’s ruling. The court sent a message that discriminatory photo ID laws are an affront to our democracy and cannot stand.”
“This is great for democracy, and shows how people can operate in a bi-partisan fashion for the good of Texas and re-enfranchise thousands of Texans,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP and an attorney with the Bledsoe Law Firm. “This is consistent with what federal judges in Washington, D.C., Corpus Christi and earlier in New Orleans had already seen. Judges of both parties have now spoken in four different forums so we hope that the Attorney General recognizes the obvious: that this is a discriminatory law, and stops trying to enforce this law.”
“Today’s ruling deals a terrible blow to the opponents of representative democracy who crafted Texas’ voter ID law, the strictest in the country. The court got it right, recognizing the stink of discrimination,” said Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, Chairman of MALC. “Moving forward, however, we cannot rely on the courts to protect our voting rights. Certain states, including Texas, have demonstrated that they will not relent in their fight against unfettered access to the ballot box for all Americans. Whatever procedural course this case follows, Congress must act to restore the Voting Rights Act to put an end to the increasingly subtle and sinister efforts to disenfranchise those who challenge the status quo.”
“This was a hard-fought victory, and the decision ensures that thousands of Texas citizens will be able to cast their ballot on Election Day,” said Amy Rudd of Dechert LLP, pro bono counsel for the NAACP Texas State Conference and MALC. “We are proud to have been part of the team that defended the Constitutional right to vote in Texas.”
Background
A federal court in Washington, D.C. blocked Texas’s voter ID law in 2012 under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, finding that the law would have a disproportionate negative impact on minority citizens in Texas. In June 2013, however, the U.S. Supreme Court (in a separate case) ruled that the formula used in the Act for specifying the states covered by Section 5 is unconstitutional. As a result, Texas is not currently required to comply with Section 5. Just hours after the Supreme Court’s decision, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced the state would implement the voter ID law.
At the September 2014 trial, the Texas NAACP and MALC, among others, presented evidence showing the state’s ID requirement would erect discriminatory barriers to voting. At trial, experts testified that 1.2 million eligible Texas voters lack a form of government-issued photo ID that would have been accepted under the new law — and minorities would be hit the hardest. For example, the court credited testimony that African-American registered voters are 305 percent more likely and Hispanic registered voters 195 percent more likely than white registered voters to lack photo ID that can be used to vote.
Read more on the case here and here.
Victory for Texas Voters: Strict Photo ID Found Discriminatory
Ruling Marks the Fourth Time the Nation’s Strictest Photo ID Law Is Ruled Racially Discriminatory
New Orleans, La. – The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found today that Texas’s photo ID law, the strictest in the nation, is racially discriminatory.This marks the fourth court to find that the law has a disproportionate impact on African-American and Latino voters in Texas.
A federal trial court and a Fifth Circuit panel both found the law violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by denying African-American and Latino voters an equal opportunity to cast a ballot. The law was also previously blocked under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. It was implemented in 2013, immediately after the Supreme Court gutted a core provision of the Voting Rights Act.
The Texas State Conference of the NAACP and MALC challenged the Texas law in September 2013. That case was consolidated with other similar cases and is now known as Veasey v. Abbott. The attorneys representing the groups include the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the national office of the NAACP, Dechert LLP, The Bledsoe Law Firm, the Law Offices of Jose Garza, the Law Office of Robert S. Notzon, and the Covich Law Firm, P.C.
“Today’s ruling by the Fifth Circuit confirms what we have long known to be true – Texas’s voter ID law, one of the most restrictive barriers to the ballot box in the nation, has a discriminatory effect on minority voters and violates the Voting Rights Act,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “SB 14 limited or denied the right to vote to more than 600,000 registered voters in the state of Texas, a number that included African Americans, Latinos, poor people, students and the elderly. Today’s decision will have immediate impact on the November 2016 election cycle and will help ensure that more people are able to participate and vote in elections across the state of Texas.”
“No American should ever lose their right to vote just because they don’t have a photo ID. This is an enormous victory for voters in Texas,” said Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “The votes of more than 600,000 Texans were at stake in today’s ruling. The court sent a message that discriminatory photo ID laws are an affront to our democracy and cannot stand.”
“This is great for democracy, and shows how people can operate in a bi-partisan fashion for the good of Texas and re-enfranchise thousands of Texans,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP and an attorney with the Bledsoe Law Firm. “This is consistent with what federal judges in Washington, D.C., Corpus Christi and earlier in New Orleans had already seen. Judges of both parties have now spoken in four different forums so we hope that the Attorney General recognizes the obvious: that this is a discriminatory law, and stops trying to enforce this law.”
“Today’s ruling deals a terrible blow to the opponents of representative democracy who crafted Texas’ voter ID law, the strictest in the country. The court got it right, recognizing the stink of discrimination,” said Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, Chairman of MALC. “Moving forward, however, we cannot rely on the courts to protect our voting rights. Certain states, including Texas, have demonstrated that they will not relent in their fight against unfettered access to the ballot box for all Americans. Whatever procedural course this case follows, Congress must act to restore the Voting Rights Act to put an end to the increasingly subtle and sinister efforts to disenfranchise those who challenge the status quo.”
“This was a hard-fought victory, and the decision ensures that thousands of Texas citizens will be able to cast their ballot on Election Day,” said Amy Rudd of Dechert LLP, pro bono counsel for the NAACP Texas State Conference and MALC. “We are proud to have been part of the team that defended the Constitutional right to vote in Texas.”
Background
A federal court in Washington, D.C. blocked Texas’s voter ID law in 2012 under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, finding that the law would have a disproportionate negative impact on minority citizens in Texas. In June 2013, however, the U.S. Supreme Court (in a separate case) ruled that the formula used in the Act for specifying the states covered by Section 5 is unconstitutional. As a result, Texas is not currently required to comply with Section 5. Just hours after the Supreme Court’s decision, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced the state would implement the voter ID law.
At the September 2014 trial, the Texas NAACP and MALC, among others, presented evidence showing the state’s ID requirement would erect discriminatory barriers to voting. At trial, experts testified that 1.2 million eligible Texas voters lack a form of government-issued photo ID that would have been accepted under the new law — and minorities would be hit the hardest. For example, the court credited testimony that African-American registered voters are 305 percent more likely and Hispanic registered voters 195 percent more likely than white registered voters to lack photo ID that can be used to vote.
Read more on the case here and here.
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Press Releases from MALDEF
November 3, 2016
MALDEF DEMANDS TEXAS COUNTIES STOP PROVIDING FALSE VOTER ID INFORMATION
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MALDEF is demanding that election officials in Dewitt and Harris Counties, Texas stop providing false information about voter identification rules at polling places.In letters sent Tuesday, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) noted that Dewitt County is using a large sign outside its early polling places that inaccurately states “photo ID required.” The sign is in direct violation of recently modified state rules that allow voters to cast a ballot without a photo ID if they can provide alternative identification documents and sign a declaration. In Harris County, poll workers are incorrectly announcing to voters that a photo ID is required to vote, according to a second letter.
"The apparently endemic Texas problems in complying with a clear directive not to require photo identification to vote demonstrates clearly that Texas is still not ready for prime time when it comes to the voting process," said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. "There is no clearer demonstration of the harm done when the Supreme Court relieved Texas from its pre-clearance obligation under the federal Voting Rights Act."
MALDEF's letters come just days after attorneys successfully sued Bexar County officials for similar problems, including using outdated signs and inaccurate information at polling places, as well as on its website and election hotline. On Friday, a state court judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring Bexar County election officials to fix the problems.
"Just last week, the Texas Secretary of State sent an email to county election officials reminding them to make clear to voters that there are alternatives to showing photo ID for voters who lack photo ID," stated Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation and lead counsel in the Bexar County case. "There is simply no excuse for poll workers who post or announce inaccurate information.”
At issue is the counties' implementation of Texas’ controversial 2011 photo voter identification law. This summer a federal court of appeals ruled that the law’s restriction of acceptable identification to one of seven government-issued photo IDs discriminated against minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Among other things, the law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not a college ID.
Texas was forced by court order to expand its list of acceptable IDs and create new signs for polling places to inform voters of the new identification requirements. Some Texas counties, however, continue to post the strict and invalid requirements in their polling places, according to MALDEF and recent news reports.
Harris County, which includes the City of Houston, is the third largest county in the United States by population. More than 40 percent of its residents are Latino, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Read the letter to Harris County Officials HERE. HERE.
Read the leter to Dewitt County Officials HERE. HERE.
October 28, 2016
MALDEF WINS COURT ORDER REQUIRING BEXAR COUNTY ELECTION OFFICIALS TO REMOVE ILLEGAL VOTER ID SIGNS
SAN ANTONIO, TX - - A state judge today ordered election officials in Bexar County, Texas to immediately remove all illegal voter ID signs from the early voting polling places and replace them with accurate information.The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed today by MALDEF seeking a temporary restraining order against county election officials.
Judge Michael Mery’s order requires Bexar County officials also to correct information on the county’s website and its voter hotline, as well as ensure that all 700 election day polling places post accurate signs informing voters of the expanded list of acceptable IDs.
“We applaud the court’s swift action to halt Bexar County’s use of incorrect voter ID requirements that deterred eligible voters from casting a ballot,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president for litigation and lead counsel in the case. “When a voter is turned away from the polls by illegal signs or poll worker announcements, or decides she cannot vote because the Bexar County website and voter hotline contain incorrect Voter ID information, that is voter suppression.”
MALDEF filed the lawsuit after its staff attorneys and volunteers documented that Bexar County officials were unlawfully enforcing the racially discriminatory voter ID law at early voting polling places.
Earlier this month, MALDEF found dozens of counties across Texas were violating the federal Voting Rights Act by failing to provide bilingual voting information on their websites, including information on polling places.
Read the ruling HERE.
October 28, 2016
MALDEF FILES LAWSUIT IN TEXAS CHALLENGING BEXAR COUNTY'S IMPLEMENTATION OF ILLEGAL VOTER ID LAW
SAN ANTONIO, TX - Bexar County officials are illegally enforcing the Texas voter ID law struck down as racially discriminatory, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.The lawsuit, filed in state district court by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) on behalf of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), alleges that Bexar County has posted and announced false and unauthorized voter ID requirements in early voting polling places throughout the county, as well as in its recorded telephone message to voters and on its website.
"There is simply no excuse for continuing to display invalid requirements to vote at any polling place in Bexar County," said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. "The failure to take the simple expedient of removing and replacing the signs suggests a nefarious motive or patent incompetence; neither should be tolerated in this critical election."
MALDEF is asking a state judge to order Bexar County to: remove the illegal voter ID signs and other materials and replace them with the signs promulgated by the Texas Secretary of State for this election; notify poll workers that they cannot display materials that contain the illegal requirements; and update its website and telephone hotline to make clear that voters who lack a government-issued photo ID can show alternative, non-photo ID.
"As turnout in Bexar County rises, voters are met with illegal voter ID signs," said Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president of litigation. "We will not sit idly by while Bexar County enforces an invalid and discriminatory voter ID law."
At issue is the county’s implementation of Texas’ controversial 2011 photo voter identification law. This summer a federal court of appeals ruled that the law’s restriction of acceptable identification to one of seven government-issued photo IDs discriminated against minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Among other things, the law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not a college ID.
Texas was forced by court order to expand its list of acceptable IDs and create new signs for polling places to inform voters of the new identification requirements. Some Texas counties, however, failed to adopt the new rules and continue to post the strict and invalid requirements in their polling places.
Bexar is the fourth largest county in Texas, with more than 1 million registered voters. An estimated 60 percent of Bexar County’s population is Hispanic.
Read the complaint HERE.
October 6, 2016
MALDEF FINDS DOZENS OF TEXAS COUNTIES ARE VIOLATING FEDERAL LAW BY FAILING TO PROVIDE BILINGUAL VOTING INFORMATION
SAN ANTONIO, TX - Dozens of counties in Texas are violating the federal Voting Rights Act by failing to provide bilingual voting information on their websites, including information on polling places, according to MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund)."This is a critically important election for all voters," stated Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel. "Elections officials should be facilitating participation by all eligible voters, including those who need bilingual assistance and whose right to that assistance is guaranteed by federal law."
MALDEF began contacting county officials last week after attorneys found 36 counties failed to ensure that Spanish-language information, such as voter registration instructions and new procedures for voter ID, is displayed on official election websites.
Under Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, counties are required to provide bilingual election information if more than five percent of the population, or 10,000 voting age citizens, belong to a single language minority, have depressed literacy rates, and do not speak English very well.
"More than 850,000 Latino eligible voters live in Texas counties that haven't provided election information in Spanish," stated Nina Perales, MALDEF Vice President of Litigation. "In a state as diverse as Texas, a bilingual website is a basic service to voters, not to mention a legal requirement."
In a letter sent to counties, MALDEF noted that much of the required information "has already been translated into Spanish by the Texas Secretary of State" and can be shared on a county's website.
Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth and is the third most populous county in the state, is among those contacted by MALDEF. Just over 16 percent of Tarrant's 1.19 million eligible voters are Latino citizens.
Others on MALDEF's list include Hidalgo County, where 85 percent of eligible voters are Latino citizens, according to the U.S. Census.
Although officials in some jurisdictions have indicated that they will move to address the problem, MALDEF lawyers said they worry that a last-minute fix may come too late to ensure that all voters can access information on registration deadlines or the start of early voting in time for November's presidential election.
MALDEF's letter comes amid growing concerns over efforts to suppress minority voting in Texas. This summer a federal court of appeals struck down a 2011 Texas law that sought to impose strict voter ID requirements, finding the measure discriminated against minority and poor voters. The law permitted voters to present a concealed handgun license but not college ID.
As of September 30, 2016, the list of counties that failed to provide bilingual voting information are as follows:
Titus County, Texas
Andrews County, Texas
Brewster County, Texas
Caldwell County, Texas
Frio County, Texas
Gonzales County, Texas
Guadalupe County, Texas
Karnes County, Texas
Kinney County, Texas
Medina County, Texas
San Saba County, Texas
Upton County, Texas
Val Verde County, Texas
Wilson County, Texas
Bee County, Texas
Calhoun County, Texas
Duval County, Texas
Hidalgo County, Texas
Jim Wells County, Texas
Kleberg County, Texas
La Salle County, Texas
Live Oak County, Texas
Nueces County, Texas
Willacy County, Texas
Zapata County, Texas
Cochran County, Texas
Dawson County, Texas
Deaf Smith County, Texas
Gaines County, Texas
Glasscock County, Texas
Lynn County, Texas
Moore County, Texas
Parmer County, Texas
Runnels County, Texas
Sherman County, Texas
Sutton County, Texas
Tarrant County, Texas
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