A federal appeals court has ruled that Texas may enforce a state law that invalidates mail-in ballots submitted without a voter’s state identification number or partial Social Security number.
A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the requirement the Texas Legislature enacted in 2021 as part of an election-integrity bill known as SB1 did not violate a federal law preventing states from imposing voting requirements “not material” to the validity of ballots.
In a brusque, nine-page opinion, Judge James Ho twice said the appeals panel had “little difficulty” concluding that Texas’ law was valid.
“The number-matching requirements are obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is who he claims he is,” Ho wrote for the panel. “And that is plainly material to determining whether an individual is qualified to vote.”
The judges said that merely requiring applications to list the voter’s name and address was insufficient to address security concerns.
“That information is easily available to anyone who simply requests it,” wrote Ho, a Trump appointee. “As a result, any person can request and receive that information about a registered voter, use that information to apply for a mail-in ballot, and then cast the ballot, with minimal risk of detection.”
The ruling is the latest from the conservative 5th Circuit to allow tightening voter eligibility and balloting requirements. Another panel of that court recently ruled that mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted.
The decision also lands amid an intensifying showdown over an effort by Texas GOP leaders to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries to produce five more Republican-held seats. The urgent push — and Democratic lawmakers’ decision to flee the state to derail the effort — has gripped Washington amid a broader struggle for an advantage in the 2026 midterms.
Ho was joined in his ruling by Judge Don Willett, another Trump appointee, and Judge Patrick Higginbotham, a Reagan appointee.
Civil rights groups and the Biden administration sued to block enforcement of aspects of the election-integrity measure, arguing that the bill had the potential to disqualify large numbers of ballots that were cast by legitimate voters but might contain minor errors.
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez Jr., a San Antonio-based George W. Bush appointee, ruled in 2023 that the presence of an accurate ID number was not material to whether a voter was entitled to vote.