South Carolina Voter ID Law Blocked Until 2013 By Federal Court

By Alan with comments October 10, 2012 21:31

Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin have also been delayed by the courts.

A three-judge panel in U.S. District Court in Washington said unanimously that South Carolina’s law would not discriminate against racial minorities. The U.S. Justice Department had argued the measure ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark of the civil rights movement.

But the judges said there was too little time to put the law into effect this year, and added they might have blocked the law entirely if South Carolina had not pledged to give wide leeway to voters who cannot comply.