The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to reinstate Texas Voter ID law, which the justices ruled last year discriminates against minority voters, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The Texas Voter ID law was generally considered to be the toughest in the country, and required that voters show forms of photo ID which, as opponents pointed out, were more limiting than ID required to board an airplane.
Today's ruling means a federal court in Corpus Christi will continue negotiating with the state and the minority plaintiffs over what should replace the law. During last November's election, Texas used a modified Voter ID law which allowed voters to show a broad number of forms of ID, including a utility bill which included the voter's name and address. Even voters with no ID whatsoever were allowed to cast ballots on a provisional basis.
Supporters of Voter ID laws have always claimed they are needed to prevent 'voter impersonation fraud.' That's when somebody claims to be a registered voter to cast an illegal vote.
Opponents of Voter ID say that type of fraud is almost unknown at the voting booth, and there are far more efficient ways to compromise an election than to enroll an army of fraudsters to impersonate actual voters.
The US Supreme Court says it may be called upon to consider the proposal that the federal court comes up with to replace Voter ID in Texas.
PHOTO GETTY