A Federal appeals court has struck down Texas's voter identification law, reports Bloomberg. The Fifth Circuit court determined that the law is, in fact, discriminatory—as has been repeatedly charged by critics.
This means that Texas citizens don’t need a government-issued photo ID to vote, if they can provide other evidence of residency. In its ruling, the court noted that accusations of voter fraud in Texas had no “meaningful evidence.”
The 5th Circuit also upheld a previous court’s judgment that the voter ID law had a racially discriminatory impact on voters. the Voting Rights Act also prohibits laws that have a discriminatory effect. The ruling comes in time to affect the November election. The judgement could prove extremely important if Texas looks to be in play this year. Analysts have considered that the Lone Star State might be competitive due to Donald Trump’s inflammatory anti-Latino rhetoric. Texas has a large number of Hispanic voters.