AUSTIN, TX — (AP) A run of legal defeats over its voting laws means Texas could risk becoming the first state forced back into federal oversight since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act four years ago.
Texas has lost three major voting rights rulings since March. The latest came Thursday when a federal court found that Republicans intentionally undermined minorities when drawing statehouse districts in 2011.
Texas and other states with histories of racial discrimination formerly needed federal approval to change election laws. The U.S. Supreme Court did away with that requirement in a landmark 2013 ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act.
Democrats and minority rights groups now say they’ll ask courts to require Texas to again submit to federal overnight given the new findings.
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