A federal judge declared a Virginia voter ID law constitutional Thursday, in a opinion dismissing a legal challenge brought by the Democratic Party of Virginia on behalf of voters in the state.
Judge Henry E. Hudson of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia sided with the Virginia State Board of Elections on all the claims the challengers brought against the state's requirement that voters show a photo ID.
Hudson said that the challengers had failed to provide evidence that the 2013 law -- which was toughened by the elections board in 2014, after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act -- was enacted with a discriminatory intent.
(Before the Supreme Court 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, Virginia would have had to get the tighter restrictions approved by the feds. The original 2013 law was indeed okayed by the Department of Justice.)
“The record evidence fails to support Plaintiffs contention that the Virginia photo ID law is arbitrary, irrational, or invidiously discriminatory, in either its enactment or implementation,” Hudson said Thursday.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/virginia-voter-id-law-upheld
