When Former President Joe Biden was in office, his Justice Department pushed back against Texas' voter ID law.
The law was put in place to ensure that the individual voting or sending in a ballot was, in fact, the person named on that ballot.
Biden went to war with Texas, and one more piece of his legacy was shattered when the state won the case on appeal.
I can tell you firsthand, I have tested the Texas voter ID laws, and they are pretty stout compared to those in other states.
For instance, I had no problem at all getting an absentee ballot while living in New Jersey and Arkansas, but was rejected in Texas for not having fulfilled the very strict requirements listed for casting an absentee ballot (I found this very impressive).
The first law on this front was passed in 2011, but a challenge based on the Voting Rights Act was lodged.
Since then, Texas has been battling in the courts to have its laws remain in place, with the latest effort to stop their enforcement brought forth by the Biden administration.
Not long after Joe Biden took office, the Justice Department filed suit against Texas to block its latest voter ID laws, once again claiming that their application violated the voting rights of minority communities, an assertion that is the regular rallying cry when it comes to laws in this realm.
At the time, then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “Our democracy depends on the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot and to have that ballot counted. The Justice Department will continue to use all the authorities at its disposal to protect this fundamental pillar of our society.”
Then-Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, added, “The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting the fundamental right to vote for all Americans. Laws that impair eligible citizens’ access to the ballot box have no place in our democracy. Texas Senate Bill 1’s restrictions on voter assistance at the polls and on which absentee ballots cast by eligible voters can be accepted by election officials are unlawful and indefensible.”
Once again, the DOJ was arguing that the law violated current federal statutes, and back to court went the state of Texas against the Biden administration.
Texas scored a huge win this week when a three-judge panel on the appellate court ruled that the requirement that there be a state ID number or partial Social Security number on mail-in ballots was legal, and it does not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Judge James Ho, a Donald Trump appointee, stated in part, "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 concluded, "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.’"
This is a monster win for Texas, upholding the latest version of Texas' voter ID laws (Texas’ Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021). And it is also yet another crushing blow to the former Biden administration, which has lost these cases in droves, showing just how far government overreach was during the prior president's time in office.
