This week the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered the ruling that the Texas Voter ID Law violates a key section of the Voting Rights act. The courts have held that the Texas Voter ID law undercuts federal voting protections for Hispanics and African Americans.
The courts have ordered that the state find remedies for the law before the presidential election A hearing to decide what that might look like is set for August 17th. One possible solution could include a robust state voter information campaign. University of Houston professor Jim Granato conducted a study of how Voter ID impacted the 23rd congressional district of Texas. He found voter ID and confusion over proper documents kept many eligible voters from the polls and that could have been enough to decide the election. Jim Granato is a professor at the Univerity of Houston and the Director of the UH Hobby Center for Public Policy.
