Judge blocks voter ID law

LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas judge on Thursday blocked a voter ID law that’s nearly identical to a measure the state’s highest court found unconstitutional about four years ago.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray granted a preliminary injunction barring the law from being enforced and finding the measure unconstitutional less than a month before Arkansas’ May 22 primary. Early voting for the primary begins May 7. Gray called the measure an unconstitutional attempt to impose additional requirements to vote, siding with a Little Rock voter who challenged the law.

The revived voter ID law, which would require voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, was passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed into law last year. It’s aimed at addressing an argument by some state Supreme Court justices that the 2013 law didn’t receive enough votes in the Legislature to be enacted. The court’s majority ruled the law violated the Arkansas Constitution by adding a new requirement in order to vote.

The new law was one of two steps the Legislature took last year to revive the voter ID requirement. Lawmakers also voted to put a proposed constitutional amendment on this November’s ballot that would further enshrine the requirement in law.

Under the new law, officials would have had to provide photo identification to voters free of charge if they didn’t have any other photo ID.