Texas Voters Should Not Be Harmed While 5th Circuit Decides Voter ID Case

New motion filed so voters can participate in 2016 presidential election

WASHINGTON – The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) today called on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate its stay of a lower court’s ruling so that Texas’s harmful voter ID law will not prevent voters from casting a ballot in the 2016 presidential election.

“Why should a law – which has already been found by seven federal judges to violate Texans’ voting rights – keep even one voter from participating in the 2016 presidential election?” said Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center. “All we are asking is that while we wait for a final ruling in this case, voters are not prevented from participating in our democracy.”

The D.C. District Court, a Texas district court, and a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit have already found that the law discriminates against minority voters. The 5th Circuit’s stay of the district court’s decision in 2014 is the only reason the law is in effect, but that stay was originally issued in order to avoid confusion because the district court’s decision was issued shortly before the 2014 elections.

“That risk that the court of appeals found in 2014 that there may be voter confusion has clearly passed,” said Danielle Lang, legal fellow of the Campaign Legal Center, “so there is no reason eligible Texas voters should once again be denied the right to vote.”

The 5th Circuit’s full panel is set to hear the case in May, and there may not be a final decision until it’s too late to stop the law before the 2016 fall elections. The emergency motion to vacate the stay urges the court to rule by April 1.

Our motion was filed on behalf of Congressman Marc Veasey and other plaintiffs. Read the Emergency Motion of Veasey-Lulac Appellees.