Democratic Effort Boosted as Courts Block Voter ID Laws
Evidence in a two-week trial in September showed that Texas, the second-most-populous U.S. state, uncovered only two instances of in-person voter fraud among more than 62 million votes cast in all Texas elections during the preceding 14 years. The state’s photo-ID rules don’t address mail-in ballot fraud, which all parties agreed is a bigger problem.
Ramos ruled that voters lacking the required identity documents and the means to get them were disproportionately poor or minorities, and that the cost of acquiring these documents amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax.
Trial evidence showed that more than 600,000 registered Texas voters lost the right to vote at the polls since the law took effect. Ramos said the high number of disenfranchised voters undermined voter confidence in election results, the opposite of what the state intended with the new measures.
More: Democratic Effort Boosted as Courts Block Voter ID Laws - Bloomberg