Voter ID Trial Delay Deadline Here
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Thursday is the deadline for the state Attorney General's office to respond to the Justice Department's request to delay the July trial date on Texas's controversial voter ID Bill.
The trial needs to happen by August so the law could go into effect by the November elections. If passed, the legislation would require all voters to show state-issued identification before entering the ballot booth.
But Rice University political science professor Dr. Mark Jones predicts the issue isn't that cut and dry.
"What may happen in the Texas case is that the court will object a specific aspect of the legislation that, in the 2013 legislative session, the Texas Legislature will be able to modify," he said. "Probably, in 2014 the voter ID legislation would be enforced."
The DOJ rejected the state's voter ID bill last month because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification.
Jones said one issue that may come into question is the difficult some people will have getting to the nearest DPS office to secure identification, since a third of Texas counties don't have one.
