Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a key part of the state’s voting law related to voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots. Paxton said, “Voter ID is one of the most crucial tools in the battle against election fraud,” according to the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a provision of Texas’s S.B. 1, the Texas Election Integrity Act of 2021, which requires voters to include an ID number on all mail-in ballots and vote-by-mail applications. The attorney general’s office previously secured a stay in 2023 to reinstate the requirement after a lower court blocked it. Attorney General Ken Paxton said, "It’s vital that there is a requirement in place that allows us to verify the identity of the voter." The court ruled that the measure does not violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as reported by the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
Following the ruling, Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office will enforce the voter ID law for mail-in ballots. “We are going to enforce that requirement aggressively and continue to ensure that our state’s elections are secure,” Paxton stated after the appellate court’s decision, as mentioned by the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
