Some more unfinished business for the courts.
Still the only voter ID anyone should need
Some plaintiffs challenging Texas’ voter ID law want a federal appeals court to speed up its consideration of the case, looking to sort it out before the next wave of elections in the state.
In a court document filed Wednesday, the plaintiffs note that 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet set a schedule to hear the case, casting uncertainty over how much time its outcome will give municipalities to prepare for their elections in May.
“This Court should seek to resolve this appeal as promptly as possible in order to ensure that a constitutional system of voter identification is implemented for upcoming elections,” wrote the plaintiffs, which include U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
As you may recall, federal Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos struck down Texas’ voter ID law in October, less than two weeks before early voting was to begin. The Fifth Circuit, subsequently backed by SCOTUS, stayed the ruling, which allowed voter ID to be implemented in November despite the judgment that it was unconstitutional. The justification for that was that election officials had been preparing for voter ID to be in place, and it would have been “too chaotic” to change direction at the last minute. Well, the next (non-special) election is in May, so there’s plenty of time to get this resolved before then…assuming the Fifth Circuit gets around to putting a date for the appellate hearing on the calendar. We know the Fifth Circuit has a lot on its plate right now, but that’s no reason to dawdle. Let’s get this show on the road.