Judge says Alabama voter ID lawsuit to go to trial in 2017
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge says a lawsuit over Alabama's voter identification law will go to trial in the fall of 2017.
U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler has set the trial for Sept. 11, 2017, in Birmingham federal court.
Greater Birmingham Ministries and the NAACP challenged the law as an infringement on voting rights that disproportionately affected the black and Latino voters.
The plaintiffs have asked Coogler to hold the trial in June so that there was a chance the case could be decided before municipal elections in 2017.
The state objected to the request, noting that the ID requirement was in place for two years before it was challenged.
Coogler earlier this year refused to suspend the ID requirement for the 2016 elections.