US Appeals Court Unanimously Upholds Texas Law Requiring ID to Cast Mail Ballots

‘The ID number requirement is obviously designed to confirm that each mail-in ballot voter is precisely who he claims he is,’ the judge wrote.

Ballots in Raleigh, N.C., in an undated file photograph. Allison Joyce/Getty Images

A federal appeals court on Aug. 4 upheld a Texas law requiring voters to submit identification information to cast mail-in ballots, drawing praise from President Donald Trump.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 3–0 that the requirement does not violate federal laws, namely the Civil Rights Act, reversing a lower court decision. The state’s Election Protection and Integrity Act of 2021 requires a person to submit an individual ID number before registering to vote by mail.