This is an excellent interview that provides some insight into the kinds of battles being fought across the country right now.
Lee Pacchia interviewed Erika Wood, Associate Professor and Director for Voting Rights & Civic Participation Project at New York Law School about the increasing amount of litigation surrounding voter identification laws around the country.
She opens with what is going on in Texas:
Texas has one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country. A district court trial this summer with lots of evidence resulted in a monumental finding. They court found that not only did the law discriminate against minorities in how it is implemented, it had been passed with discriminatory intent.
The court found there were 600,000 voters in Texas who did not have the required ID needed to vote.
Their ruling was appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which stayed the district court’s ruling and reimposed the Texas law because it was too close to the election to change the laws.
That opinion has now been appealed to the Supreme Court.
This all stems from the Supreme Court opinion in 2013 – Shelby County v. Holder. This was the most critical voting rights opinion to come out of the Supreme Court in the last 50 years with the Court striking down Section IV of the Voting Rights Act.
Take the time to watch this whole 8 minute video. Ms. Wood is a wonderful “explainer” and makes these issues very clear.
TL;DR Civics 