The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] on Tuesday affirmed [opinion, PDF] a lower court ruling that upheld Virginia’s voter identification law. The plaintiffs challenged SB 1256 [materials], which requires that voters have a valid form of ID either before voting or within three days after voting, alleging that it inhibits “equal participation by protected classes in the electoral process” and is discriminatory. A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] rejected that argument [JURIST report] in May, finding Virginia’s voter ID law constitutional. In upholding that ruling Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit concluded: “In sum, not only does the substance of SB 1256 not impose an undue burden on minority voting, there was no evidence to suggest racially discriminatory intent in the law’s enactment.”

Voter ID laws remain popular yet controversial. In November Missouri voters approved an amendment [JURIST report] to require voters to present photo ID at the polls. In August the US Supreme Court [official website] denied a motion to reinstate [JURIST report] North Carolina’s recently overturned law that limited early voting to 10 days and required voters to present approved ID cards. The Fourth Circuit had struck down [JURIST report] portions of that law in July upon finding discriminatory intent primarily concerning black state residents.