More than three months after Gov. Greg Abbott listed his top priorities of the legislative session—fixes to foster care, sanctuary city bans, ethics reform and a convention of states—the state’s chief has added one more. On May 21, Abbott declared fixing voter identification a last-minute emergency item.
The Texas House of Representatives took up that issue May 23 just in time for a midnight deadline that would otherwise render Senate Bill 5 useless.
The bill issues a number of reforms, the biggest of which would codify the use of affidavits and non-photo identification in times when undue burden would occur to get photo ID. It would also create a program for mobile voter registration units that would travel to hard-to-reach populations.
The bill has more urgent motivation to pass than the governor’s declaration, though. In 2016, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ 2011 voter ID law, which requires strict usage of photo identification in just seven forms, was discriminatory in effect for minority voters. In April, another ruling from a federal court judge declared the 2011 law to also be discriminatory in intent.
Attorney General Ken Paxton will meet again with that federal judge, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, on June 7 and review Texas’ efforts to right its voter identification discrimination.
Many fear without a fix, Texas would be placed on a federal watchlist that requires the state to get federal preclearance before changing election laws.
Texas has been off this list since 2013, when a Supreme Court decision cleared every state, giving them all a fresh start. Should Texas go back on this list, it would be the first state to return.
Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the House sponsor of SB 5, emphasized the urgency of passing a remedy.
“If we do not pass this today, we could quite possibly see Senate Bill 14, any voter ID, struck from Texas law,” he said.
King said only 49 of the representatives who were present in 2011, when the initial voter ID law was passed, are still serving in the House.
“The majority of us believed it was pragmatic to require a voter ID to ensure integrity,” he said. “We didn’t want anyone to be disenfranchised; we didn’t want any disparate impact.”
The bill passed the House on May 24 and heads back to the Senate for approval of any changes.
More than three months after Gov. Greg Abbott listed his top priorities of the legislative session—fixes to foster care, sanctuary city bans, ethics reform and a convention of states—the state’s chief has added one more. On May 21, Abbott declared fixing voter identification a last-minute emergency item.
The Texas House of Representatives took up that issue May 23 just in time for a midnight deadline that would otherwise render Senate Bill 5 useless.
The bill issues a number of reforms, the biggest of which would codify the use of affidavits and non-photo identification in times when undue burden would occur to get photo ID. It would also create a program for mobile voter registration units that would travel to hard-to-reach populations.
The bill has more urgent motivation to pass than the governor’s declaration, though. In 2016, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ 2011 voter ID law, which requires strict usage of photo identification in just seven forms, was discriminatory in effect for minority voters. In April, another ruling from a federal court judge declared the 2011 law to also be discriminatory in intent.
Attorney General Ken Paxton will meet again with that federal judge, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, on June 7 and review Texas’ efforts to right its voter identification discrimination.
Many fear without a fix, Texas would be placed on a federal watchlist that requires the state to get federal preclearance before changing election laws.
Texas has been off this list since 2013, when a Supreme Court decision cleared every state, giving them all a fresh start. Should Texas go back on this list, it would be the first state to return.
Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the House sponsor of SB 5, emphasized the urgency of passing a remedy.
“If we do not pass this today, we could quite possibly see Senate Bill 14, any voter ID, struck from Texas law,” he said.
King said only 49 of the representatives who were present in 2011, when the initial voter ID law was passed, are still serving in the House.
“The majority of us believed it was pragmatic to require a voter ID to ensure integrity,” he said. “We didn’t want anyone to be disenfranchised; we didn’t want any disparate impact.”
The bill passed the House on May 24 and heads back to the Senate for approval of any changes.
