WASHINGTON, D.C. - A strict new law requiring Texas voters to present photo identification was blocked Thursday by a federal three-judge panel, who found it discriminatory toward minorities and the poor. Lawyers for the state argued that the law was needed to thwart fraud in the voting process, but of more than 13 million ballots cast in Texas in the 2008 and 2010 general elections, officials recorded just four allegations of illegal voting, resulting in one indictment, according to Abbott's office. The Texas law would have required voters to show a driver's license or photo identification card issued by the Department of Public Safety, the military or federal government, a passport or a state-issued concealed gun permit. Voter registration in Texas requires one of several identification documents, including a passport, driver's license, birth certificate or citizenship papers. The additional restrictions would have "muffled the voice of those that need government's ear the most - Latinos, African-Americans, the poor and the elderly," said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which joined the Justice Department in opposition to a lawsuit filed by Texas asking the federal court panel to approve the voter ID law. The two rulings against Texas for discriminatory laws on redistricting and voter ID show the need to keep the state under the Voting Rights Act, Gonzalez said.
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