A US federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas can enforce a law that rejects mail-in ballots submitted without a voter’s state ID number, a decision President Donald Trump said should be adopted nationwide.
The ruling comes as Republican leaders in Texas push to redraw the state’s congressional maps to gain five additional seats — a move that has heightened political tensions ahead of the 2026 midterms.
On Monday, dozens of Democratic lawmakers faced possible arrest after fleeing the US state for breaking quorum.
They face at minimum a $500 fine per day of absence, but Texas Republicans raised the stakes, passing a motion to issue arrest warrants for the missing Democrats.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a provision of a 2021 election law, known as SB1, passed by the Texas legislature.
The panel found the rule did not violate a federal law that prohibits voting requirements considered irrelevant to determining a person’s eligibility to vote.
The state law invalidates mail-in ballots submitted without a voter’s state identification number or partial social security number.
In a nine-page opinion, Judge James Ho, a Trump appointee, wrote that the number-matching requirement helps verify a voter’s identity — and is therefore clearly material.
“We have no difficulty concluding that the 2021 Act easily satisfies this two-step test,” he wrote.
“The number-matching requirements are obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is indeed who he claims he is.”
He added: “That is plainly material to determining whether an individual is qualified to vote.”
Trump welcomed the decision on Tuesday, writing on Truth Social: “THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!! Should be Nationwide!!!”
After the law was enacted by Texas in 2021, the Joe Biden administration and civil rights groups challenged parts of SB1, warning that the ID requirement could disqualify many otherwise legitimate ballots over minor errors.
US district judge Xavier Rodriguez, a George W. Bush appointee, blocked the law in 2023, ruling that an accurate ID number was not necessary to determine voter eligibility.
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