Federal appeals court upholds Texas voter ID law for mail ballots, says they are 'not secure' | Fox News
By: Rachel Wolf (Fox News)
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Texas scored a victory on Monday when a federal appeals court upheld a state law requiring voters using mail-in ballots to include a state ID number or partial Social Security number.
A three-judge panel reversed a district court's decision, saying unanimously that the law did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as some critics claimed, because it is material to confirm voter eligibility, as required under the statute.
Voters walk past signs at a polling location during the Super Tuesday primary election in Rio Grande City, Texas, on March 5, 2024.(Reuters/Cheney Orr)
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Judge James Ho began the unanimous opinion with a blunt statement, "Mail-in ballots are not secure," citing Veasey v. Perry.
The case, later known as Veasey v. Abbott on appeal, involved Texas' voter ID law and included findings confirmed by the Fifth Circuit that "mail-in ballot fraud is a significant threat."
READ THE COURT RULING - APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
"The ID number requirement is obviously designed to confirm that each mail-in ballot voter is precisely who he claims he is. And that is plainly 'material' to 'determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote,'" Ho wrote in the opinion.
Ho and the other judges on the panel aligned with their colleagues on the Third Circuit, which held that "the materiality provision applies only to voter qualification determination." He said the Third Circuit's analysis was "persuasive."
A federal appeals court upheld a Texas mail-in ballot voter ID law.(Reuters/Adrees Latif)
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Additionally, Ho notes that while the plaintiffs argue that "there isn't enough evidence to show the ID number requirement would meaningfully reduce voter fraud," the state disagrees on the matter.
"Our precedents compel us to side with Texas. We have made clear that states have a legitimate interest in combating voter fraud, and thus enjoy 'considerable discretion in deciding what is an adequate level of effectiveness to serve [their] important interests in voter integrity,'" Ho wrote in the opinion.
People vote in the East Aldine community on Nov. 5, 2024, in Houston.(Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)
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The Fifth Circuit — the same court that ruled in favor of Texas — has allowed for the tightening of voter rules in the past. Recently, judges with the Fifth Circuit ruled that mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted, Politico reported.
Texas' Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021 was signed in September of that year, following the 2020 presidential election. At the time, several Republican states began cracking down on voter identification. Additionally, according to the Texas Tribune, the law limited local control of elections by prohibiting counties from offering expanded voting options.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
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Voting just got way more secure in Texas, The equivalent of showing ID to mail in voters.
How many cases of mail in voter fraud has Texas prosecuted over the last 10 years?
I'm sure it's in the 0.079 % range
Doesn't matter how many got caught. As the old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".
It is mind boggling that some folks don't want to make things more secure until something happens. Kind of like not buying door locks until you get robbed.
What is "mind-boggling" is the amount of distrust being tripled down on by conservatives against liberals. It is getting unworkable. I am appalled by the disrespect demonstrated by one side or the other. It is no-way to run a 'union.' I fear this country will fail and it will be collectively our own undoing. That is, we will have no-one to blame but ourselves!
What is mind boggling is that some folks only see it one way. As I seem to recall it was liberals that were saying don't invite your conservative relatives to holiday get togethers.
I don't recall any liberals saying that (or why anyone would obey it). That said, it will be extremely 'hard' to drill-down on how the heck this nation's politics got to this point. I guess. . . once we 'hit' rock-bottom as a nation. . . we can start the climb back 'up'!
As long as politicians say the other side is the enemy and their constituents believe it we are not going to climb back up. Both sides look at the other as a threat to democracy which means to many it is ok to hate them and do what has to be done to make the other side lose. Politicians need to show it is possible to compromise. That is my two cents.
I will agree with this with one change. "Politicians need to REMEMBER it is possible to compromise." (They used to know this—politics of the Middle.) We will rue the day (and probably go the way of the dodo bird if we continue to alien each other and the world-at-large.) That is, if we show each other that we detest our collective selves and let it be known to the world that we detest them too. . . we will be forced to go it alone (split up) and suffer the world's cold shoulder when we come knocking.
The liberals have earned every bit of that distrust
Pure partisanship is the largest cause of all of this (distrust)! It is time we (all) simply knock it off! We have a country to live in together or we will become irrelevant. For surely, conservatives can not make this country 'clap' without liberals: As 'clapping' takes two hands to accomplish.
A victory for common sense. No wonder those who want to cheat are upset.
Show US All the PROOF of this voter fraud, besides Trump still claiming he won the 2020 election, and is constantly claiming voter fraud. If you voted for Trump, you committed voter fraud, by electing one.
Yep, that’s the standard liberal non sequitur on voter identification laws.
How many murders in your household? Rapes? Child abuse? Any pay per view dog fighting syndicates perhaps?