Voting Rights Act

A federal judge has tossed out a new law softening Texas’ strict voter identification requirements.

A sign for a polling station written in both English and Spanish. (Photo: Erik Hersman)
Amid last-minute efforts to overhaul the state’s voter identification law in light of an ongoing legal fight, the Texas Legislature gaveled out without addressing another embattled election law that’s now moving forward in federal court.

Illustration: (Anneke Paterson/Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune)
Texas lawmakers intentionally diluted the political clout of minority voters in drawing the state’s House districts, a panel of federal judges ruled Thursday.

An election official checks a voter’s photo identification at an early voting polling site in Austin, Texas.
For the fifth time, a court has ruled that a Texas voter identification law was passed with the intention of discriminating against black and Hispanic voters in the state—hopefully sounding “the death knell” for the egregious voter suppression effort.

(Illustration: Anneke Paterson/Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune)
Some of Texas’ 36 congressional districts violate either the U.S. Constitution or the federal Voting Rights Act, a panel of federal judges ruled Friday.
In a long-delayed ruling, the judges ruled 2-1 that the Texas Legislature must redraw the political maps it most recently used for the 2016 elections.

An election official checks a voter’s photo identification at an early voting polling site in Austin, Texas. A federal appeals court is set to take a second look at a strict Texas voter ID law that was found to be unconstitutional last year. (AP/Eric Gay)

Buckle up, America.  The voting demolition derby that was the New York primary on Tuesday was merely the crash test for the coming voting wreckage in November:  a carefully planned pile up.
First, live from New York….
Francesca Rheannon, whom you may know as the host of Writers’ Voice radio, did the civic thing by volunteering to work the polls in a town east of New York City.