AUSTIN, Texas A federal judge who has compared Texas voter ID requirements to a poll tax on minorities once again blocked the law Wednesday, rejecting a weakened version backed by the Trump administration and dealing Texas Republicans another court defeat over voting rights.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos rejected changes signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott this summer as not only lacking but also potentially chilling to voters because of new criminal penalties. The new version didnt expand the list of acceptable photo identifications meaning gun licenses remained sufficient proof to vote, but not college student IDs.
But Gonazles Ramos, who first struck down the law in 2014, said Texas didnt go far enough with its changes and said that criminal penalties Texas attached to lying on the affidavit could have a chilling effect on voters who, fearful of making an innocent mistake on the form, simply wont cast a ballot.
The decision also leaves open the potential of Texas becoming the first state dragged back under federal oversight since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 gutted the federal Voting Rights Act, which had required states with troubled racial histories to submit election changes for approval. Gonzales Ramos left that question open for consideration later.
Texas has spent years fighting to preserve both the voter ID law which was among the strictest in the U.S. and its voting maps. Earlier this month, a separate federal court found racial gerrymandering in Texas congressional maps and ordered voting districts to be partially redrawn before the 2018 elections.
