Still the only voter ID anyone should need
At [Friday] morning’s scheduling conference, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos set trial in the consolidated Texas voter ID cases for September 2, 2014, adopting the date proposed by Congressman Marc Veasey over a proposed March 2015 trial date preferred by the State of Texas and some of the other plaintiffs.
The court also granted a request by the Texas Association of Hispanic County Judges and County Commissioners to intervene in the case.
Separately, the court also sua sponte consolidated the new voter ID suit filed last week by a group of South Texas plaintiffs with the four other pending cases.
The court did not take action today on a request by poll watching group True the Vote to intervene in the case as a defendant but told the parties that it would take the request under advisement. Lawyers for the Justice Department had argued in papers filed with the court that True the Vote did not meet the legal requirements for intervention.
Here’s a wire story that doesn’t add a whole lot more to what Michael Li wrote. For a primer on who’s claiming what in all these lawsuits, see here. I am hopeful that we can get a resolution, preferably one favorable to the plaintiffs, in time for the November election next year. We’ll see how it goes. The Lone Star Project has more.