Judge Rules Texas Voter ID Law Is Discriminatory

More good news for the resistance ... US District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has ruled that a Texas law requiring voters to show identification before casting ballots was enacted by the state’s Republican Party with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters.

You.Don’t.Say.

The decision by Judge Ramos came after an appeals court ruled that the 2011 Voter ID law had an outsized impact on minority voters, and that court sent the case back to Ramos to determine if lawmakers had intentionally written the legislation to be discriminatory.

And Ramos decided that they did; in a 10-page decision she found that evidence "establishes that a discriminatory purpose was at least one of the substantial or motivating factors behind passage" of the measure.

What the what? The GOP tried to discriminate against minority voters? This is so schock—no it’s not, it’s the GOP.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Jr. and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans ... because, of course ... could not be reached for comment. Paxton did say, last year, that enacting voter ID laws was a “common sense” way to prevent voter fraud.

I think maybe he meant it was a common sense way to keep black and Hispanic voters from casting a ballot.

This latest smackdown of the Texas GOP comes a month after two federal judges ruled that Texas lawmakers drew up three congressional districts specifically to undermine the influence of Hispanic voters.

Voter ID laws make it especially difficult for the elderly and lower income Americans, including minorities, to vote because they are less likely to have identification; and the GOP loves a good voter ID law because, typically, those groups tend to vote Blue.

Ramos’ ruling means Texas could be put on a so-called pre-clearance scheme of the Voting Rights Act and, in order to make any changes to its voting protocols, the state would have to clear them with the federal government.

Snap. It’s another victory for the Resistance.

Reuters

Alabama Passes Voter ID Law, Closes Most Driver's License Offices In Predominately Black Counties

The GOP is at it again …

In 2011, Alabama’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a voter ID law that requires a driver’s license or a form of government ID in order to vote.

And now, in 2015, driver’s license offices are being closed in eight of the 10 counties with the highest percentage of non-white voters, and soon driver’s license offices will be closed in every Alabama county where more than 75% of registered voters are black.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what Alabama is doing. They want to make sure black voters can’t vote; of course, it doesn’t hurt that these counties are also home to mostly other minorities as well, so the plan seems to be to keep the voters in Alabama white.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund notes that, according to the state's own analysis, “approximately 20 percent of registered voters, or 500,000 people, lack Alabama driver’s licenses or non-driver photo IDs" and says that the closures "very likely violate" the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

But, naturally, Terry Lathan, the chair of the Alabama Republican Party says something different:

“There have been quick and efficient plans to accommodate any registered voter in Alabama who needs a free photo voter ID. No voter will be denied that opportunity regardless of where they reside in our state. Most voters already have some type of government picture identification, but for those that don't they will find it easy to acquire one in Alabama.”

But if that’s the case, then why close offices in minority counties only? Why not in the predominantly white counties as well?

Oh yeah. Alabama. GOP. Racism. Voter suppression.

NCRM

The Funny Papers

Pennsylvania Judge Halts Enforcement Of Voter ID Law

Well, well, well, it looks like the GOP is getting the smackdown it deserves, at least in Pennsylvania.

A judge up there is postponing the state's tough new voter identification requirement, ordering that it not be enforced in the presidential election this year, though an appeal is possible, however.

A lot of "initials' groups, like the DNC, the AARP, and the NAACP, worked tirelessly in opposition to the voter ID law that Republicans said was "necessary" to prevent election fraud--even though they had no problem with ALLEGED voter fraud when Bush was elected. The law became even more of a hot button issue when a top Republican lawmaker boasted that it would allow Mitt Romney to beat President Barack Obama in Pennsylvania.

The height of stupidity.

But that's the GOP. When they stole the presidency in 2000, they said nothing about voter fraud, because it wasn't an issue; when Bush won in 2004, they said nothing because their man won. But now, with a Democrat, and, a black man, in the White House, suddenly voter fraud is the biggest issue.

Well, not in Pennsylvania, at least pending appeal.

source