Federal Appeals Court Upholds Texas Mail-In Voting ID Requirement

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Texas may require mail-in voters to provide identification numbers that match state records, overturning a lower court’s decision that had blocked the rule. The three-judge panel found that the ID match provision, part of Texas Senate Bill 1 passed in 2021, is a valid method to prevent voter fraud and does not violate the Civil Rights Act. Judge James Ho, writing for the court, said the rule is “obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is indeed who he claims he is.”

The ruling reverses a November 2023 lower court decision that found the requirement immaterial to determining voter eligibility. The Fifth Circuit disagreed, stating it had “no difficulty” concluding the law’s legality and lifted the injunction that had paused its enforcement. Judges Patrick Higginbotham and Don Willett joined in the decision. The Biden administration, along with several civil rights organizations including the ACLU and the Democratic National Committee, had challenged the law, arguing that Texas’s database system is unreliable and results in wrongful ballot rejections. One filing indicated that more than 60,000 voter records had mismatched identification numbers as of early 2023.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office defended the law, hailed the decision as a major victory for election integrity. The ruling comes amid declining confidence in Democratic leadership. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 53% of Democratic voters disapprove of how their party’s lawmakers are performing in Congress, while just 41% approve—the lowest rating since 2009. Overall, only 21% of all voters approve of congressional Democrats, compared to 32% for Republicans. The Democratic Party’s approval slump follows a series of election losses and growing frustration within its base over the response to President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.