Early voting for the Nov. 4 general election begins Monday, Oct. 20 and goes through Oct. 31.
And prospective voters should continue to bring a valid identification. On Tuesday afternoon, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that the voter ID law will remain in effect for the Nov. 4 general election.
On Oct. 9, a U.S. District Judge in Corpus Christi ruled that the voter ID law (Senate Bill 14) requiring voters to present specific photo identification was essentially a poll tax used to suppress minority voter participation.
Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately appealed in hopes of getting a clarification before the election.
Gillespie County Clerk Mary Lynn Rusche would have continued to ask for ID though its enforcement before the Tuesday ruling was in question.
“No one from the Texas Secretary of State’s office had notified us whether or not to take it or not take it,” Rusche said. “So we were going to continue to check them as we did last year until we were notified otherwise.”
It’s a moot point now.
“This is not a run-of-the-mill case; instead, it is a voting case decided on the eve of the election,” the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stated. “The judgment below substantially disturbs the election process of the State of Texas just nine days before early voting begins. Thus, the value of preserving the status quo here is much higher than in most other contexts.”
Last year, at least one senior citizen voter was turned away at the polls for not having the proper ID though she had voted in every election since she turned 18.
The voter ID law, passed in 2011 and enacted in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court OK’d its implementation, requires that voters present a driver’s license, concealed handgun license, U.S. passport or military ID.
Supporters of the law say it prevents voter fraud, but opponents say it was designed to prevent minority voting, a bloc that generally supports the state’s minority party.
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