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| Dallas County (Alabama) Sheriff Jim Clark points a billy club and electric prod as he tells African-American voting demonstrators to move from in front of the Dallas Courthouse. (1960s photo) |
The New York Times
by Charlie Savage and Manny Fernandez
WASHINGTON — A federal court on Thursday struck down a Texas law that would have required voters to show government-issued photo identification before casting their ballots in November, ruling that the law would hurt turnout among minority voters and impose “strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor” by charging those voters who lack proper documentation fees to obtain election ID cards.
The judges’ ruling came two days after another three-judge panel in the same court found that the Texas Legislature had intentionally discriminated against minority voters in drawing up electoral district maps, citing the same section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
