It would help stop voter fraud completely...
Posted on 03/10/2009 6:53:43 AM PDT by laotzu
AUSTIN — One of the most politically divisive fights the Legislature will confront this year gets its first full-fledged airing today as state senators have it out over whether voters should be required to show photo or other ID when they cast a ballot.
On one side are Republicans who contend the change would protect the integrity of Texas elections and remove any possibility of voter impersonation or fraud. Democrats proffer a different view: The move is nothing more than an attempt to suppress voting by minorities, the elderly and disabled.
The state's Democratic senators successfully blocked a voter photo identification bill in 2007. This year Republicans have made it a priority, and it's among the first bills they've decided to debate.
Seven states already have laws requiring voter photo identification, though none has experienced widespread voter disenfranchisement or exposed significant fraud.
“This is about Republicans scaring off just enough eligible elderly, disabled, blacks and Hispanics to stay in power four more years, plain and simple,” said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.
Republican Caucus Chairman Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said the bill is simply about ending voter fraud. “We know voter impersonation is taking place. It's been well-documented. It's going to come out in the hearings,” he said.
Texas allows the state's 13.5 million registered voters to cast ballots by presenting either a registration card or a driver's license to poll workers. The proposed law would require voters to present a specified photo ID or other documents to prove their identity before voting. It would not apply to people who vote early by mail.
Of the seven states that have passed similar measures over the past 15 years, the most stringent took effect in 2007 in Indiana after being upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the first election after that ruling, a dozen retired nuns in their 80s and 90s were turned away from the polls for not having a valid Indiana photo ID.
At the same time, Indiana's voter turnout has been rising in every election.
“It's working as intended,” said Jim Gavin, a spokesman for Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, an elected Republican.
What is hard to measure in any state is how many people are discouraged from voting by tougher requirements.
“Even if there's just confusion over this, if you feel like you're going to be turned away, you may just stay home,” said Martin Matheny, a spokesman for the Georgia Democratic Party.
Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, said 3.9 million voters cast ballots in the 2008 elections, with 92 percent of them cast in person. “Not a single person has come forward to say they couldn't vote” because of voter identification, Carrothers said.
About 1,180 provisional ballots were cast by people who did not have identification, and only 308 of them returned with the documents required to have their ballots counted.
Both Georgia and Florida instituted tough verification procedures for newly registered voters last year to guarantee their state citizenship. State officials challenged the citizenship of 4,770 Georgia voters, and about 10,000 in Florida, according to local news reports.
The Orlando Sentinel found that in one county 46 percent of those rejected were registered Democrats, 9 percent Republicans, and the rest had no party affiliation. Statewide, 27 percent of the rejected voters were Hispanic and almost 27 percent were black.
Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida, said the voter ID law created few problems, but nor was there any record of voter impersonation being a problem.
Jennifer Davis, a spokeswoman for Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, said having 10,000 voters challenged out of 500,000 new registrations was “a very small number.” She added: “We did not get any reports of anyone who did not get to vote because of the verification process.”
In Louisiana, voters have had to show photo identification since 1997, but can still cast a ballot without an ID if they fill out an affidavit swearing to their identity. “It's really not a big issue at the polls on election days. We don't get a lot of complaints,'' said Jacques Berry, a spokesman for Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.
Between starving children, raping the rain forest, raising sea levels, directing hurricanes, burning a hole in the ozone, melting the planet, and this; Republicans display a superhuman ability at budgeting their time.
Salute.
There, fixed the article.
What is the ACORN position on this bill?
I agree and hopefully we will soon have a PHOTO ID requirement here in Tennessee! ;-)
Translation: with ID, minority voters and hippies can vote numerous times and illegal immigrants (felons) can vote, and probably multiple times as well.
It is obvious who votes for Democrats.
What is the ACORN position on this bill?...........BOHICA..............
With the billions of tax-payer dollars going to ACORN, I’m sure they’ll be able to take a few photographs.
Maybe the polls should require a fingerprint instead.
Are they like vampires... their images don't show up in photos? We all know this is a voter-fraud protection issue.
Minorities are too stupid to have valid ID's? The elderly have their Social Security cards and AARP cards. The disabled have no ID? How do they cash their disability checks?
It sounds more like the democrats are trying to protect illegal immigrant and fraudulent voting to me. Without those, they lose elections. Where would ACORN, Move On, etc. get their bogus ballots?
Did we ever hear how Mickey Mouse voted?
Republicans have a 19-12 majority in the senate, but a meager 74-72 majority in the house. They do control the governor’s mansion.
Hopefully they can get this through. Thoughts? Any TX FReepers have any ideas on how this will play out?
Well, he is black. How do you think he voted?.............
So he’s a democRAT?
Seems obvious to me!..............
It would help stop voter fraud completely...
I went to the SLUM side of Houston, and got some fake I.D, they told me I could take a pick of a drivers license from any state of the U.S. (I chose Arkansas) When I told them, ‘this is my REAL name’, they laughed and said, ‘yeah, that’s what everyone says’. The ID worked well, no one ever knew it was fake. They do these kinds of things real well, look for places where people buy/sell cocaine, and rent hotels by the hour, and drifters some and go.
Maybe that's because they REQUIRE ID!
Their official position is that they are for voter id, but not photo id.
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