Lower court had blocked nine Senate Bill 1 provisions in March 2025
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday restored several pieces of a 2021 Texas election law that overhauled mail-in and assisted voting, overturning a lower court’s block on those provisions.
The ruling brings back provisions requiring Texans to provide an identification number or Social Security number on mail-in ballot applications and have those numbers match the state’s records. It also reinstates processes for curing defective ballots and a requirement that voters and those who assist them in filling out their ballot sign an oath swearing they did not coerce the voter and disclosing how they are related.
A federal district judge had struck down nine provisions of the law in March 2025 after several lawsuits over accessibility concerns were consolidated into a single case.
Texas passed Senate Bill 1 in 2021, a wide-reaching election law that changed how local officials administer elections and how some Texans vote. The legislation was aimed particularly at initiatives Harris County implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time of passage, the law was denounced by voter advocacy groups, civil rights organizations, and Democratic lawmakers, who broke quorum in an attempt to block its enactment.
The consolidated challenge focused on accessibility concerns, including arguments that the identification-matching requirement and assisted-voter oath would burden Texans who rely on mail voting or who need help marking their ballots.
Wednesday’s appellate order reinstates the contested provisions that the district court had struck down.
The mail-ballot identification requirement applies to applications for mail-in ballots. The assisted-voter oath requirement applies to voters who receive help filling out their ballots and to the people who help them.