AUSTIN, Texas _ A federal judge is set to consider a deal by Texas officials that would ease some of the state's voter identification rules and end a legal fight between the state, the U.S. Department of Justice and some civil rights groups.
The agreement would allow voters whose names appear on voter rolls but lack a photo ID to cast ballots if they can produce other forms of ID beyond the narrow list called set out in 2011's Senate Bill 14. Appropriate forms of ID would include a utility bill, a bank statement, a paycheck or a voter registration card.
The agreement was submitted to U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos on Wednesday for her consideration.
The agreement comes about two weeks after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that S.B. 14 had a discriminatory effect and needs to be remedied. The 9-6 decision of the full court found that Texas' voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act, particularly Section 2, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, skin color and ethnicity.
Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project Director, called the order to settle Veasey v. Abbott, which is named for a defendant U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey and Gov. Greg Abbott, "a slap down" to Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other state leaders "who have imposed a discriminatory voting law on Texans for years."
"The order presented to Judge Ramos' reverses a discriminatory voting law passed to suppress Texas voters and puts in its place fair, practical, and reasonable guidelines that protect the integrity of elections without disenfranchising American citizens," Angle said in a written statement.
Abbott's representative and Paxton's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Election law expert Richard Hasen, who works as a professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, said the agreement amounts to a "darn good deal for plaintiffs."
