Texas

John Lewis Good Trouble - Title
JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE tells the story of Congressman John Lewis, an American hero who spent his life fighting for voting rights and racial justice. As he put it, making ‘good trouble.’
 
Elections don’t just happen every four years. Every single week, local elections are happening that impact every single aspect of our daily lives. 
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John Lewis Good Trouble - Title
JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE tells the story of Congressman John Lewis, an American hero who spent his life fighting for voting rights and racial justice. As he put it, making ‘good trouble.’
 
Elections don’t just happen every four years. Every single week, local elections are happening that impact every single aspect of our daily lives. 
GET CAUGHT UP
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Hey There, Troublemakers

We need you. We need people like you to make good trouble, to amplify the voices of others, to stand up for what’s right.

Sign up to stay up to date on GOOD TROUBLE news and updates.

 

Texas Voting Restrictions

New restriction enacted in 2019: Cut back use of mobile early voting sites.

New restriction in place since 2016 election:  Photo ID required if a voter has one, but an alternative will be available for those who present a non-photo ID from a preset list and execute an affidavit claiming to have certain, enumerated reasonable impediments to obtaining photo ID. Reasonable impediment alternative is more restrictive than the alternative in place in 2016.

Click here to see the types of ID required under Texas’s law.

New restriction(s) in place for the first time in 2016: Photo ID required if a voter has one, but an alternative will be available for those who have a reasonable impediment to obtaining ID.

Restriction(s) in place for the first time in 2012: Curbed voter registration drives.

Background: In 2012, a federal court blocked the 2011 photo ID law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The state then implemented the requirement after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted Section 5 in 2013, and a photo ID was required to vote for the first time in a federal election in 2014.

In July 2016, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the strict photo ID law discriminates against minority voters, and therefore cannot be enforced against those who lack ID. In August 2016, a federal court approved an agreement that will allow voters with an obstacle to obtaining photo ID to cast a regular ballot in November 2016 after showing one of a much larger number of IDs and signing a declaration. In June 2017, in response to the litigation, Texas enacted a new voter ID law that is currently in place.

A Republican-controlled legislature passed the restriction on voter registration drives and the strict photo ID law in 2011, and both were signed by a GOP governor.

State information provided by: Brennan Center for Justice