Chart: Houston Chronicle
In a six-page letter today, the Department of Justice told Texas that its new law to make voting harder cannot stand. The bulk of it is that by requiring voters to show photo ID they never had to show before, Texas could disenfranchise between 603,892 to 795,955 people, a disproportionate number of them Hispanic. But there's more. From the letter (pdf):
You have informed us that the DPS-issued "free" election identification certificate, which is proposed to be implemented by Section 20 of S.B. 14, would protect voters who do not already have another acceptable form of identification. The application process for these certificates will mirror the manner in which a person obtains a driver’s license. First-time applicants will be required to furnish various supplemental documents and undergo an application process that includes fingerprinting and traveling to a driver's license office.
An applicant for an election identification certificate will be required to provide two pieces of secondary identification, or one piece of secondary identification and two supporting documents. If a voter does not possess any of these documents, the least expensive option will be to spend $22 on a copy of the voter's birth certificate. There is a statistically significant correlation between the Hispanic population percentage of a county and the percentage of a county's population that lives below the poverty line. The legislature tabled amendments that would have prohibited state agencies from charging for any underlying documents needed to obtain an acceptable form of photographic identification.
In other words, Texas knew voters would have trouble meeting the new requirements -- and Texas did not care.
ADDING: A second judge in two weeks has issued an injunction against Wisconsin's new voter ID law, Act 23. Today's ruling (pdf) from Judge Richarg G. Niess is unequivocal. "The right to vote belongs to all Wisconsin citizens who are qualified electors, not just the fortunate majority for whom Act 23 poses little obstacle at the polls," he writes.
(Chart: Houston Chronicle)
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How is this at all surprising. Texas appears to care nothing for its residents unless they are while male and voting Republican.
So what you are saying is that only white male Republicans are responsible enough to have ID that proves they live in the precinct they are voting in?
It's not about responsibility, It's about means. Some people just simply do not have the means to spend 22 dollars on a piece of paper. 22 dollars in some peoples homes is a LOT of money.
You're absolutely right, Victor: For far too many people, $22 is like $10,000 to Mitt Romney.
Voter registration cards are ID. Are you suggesting that yopur state can not properly issue a voter registration card?
They are not accepting Voter ID cards as a valid ID in order to vote.
I'm not surprised that some think this Voter ID over-reach is a good idea....If it were legal, it would be political genius. But what is says is REPUBLICANS ARE DESPERATE AND HAVE NO SHAME.
Problem is: When we as American Citizens, call another citizen less than, weak, not one of us etc...at the same time, need to limit the number of people voting for him or her......If you lose to this person, what does that say about what citizens think of you?...."LET EM VOTE", enough already. Restore the creadibility of the GOP....stop this non-sense.
You always had to show some sort of identification with your voter id card, but that used to be as simple as showing a bill in your name at the house, or if you're a student, a document from school, just to affirm your name and address. It wasn't rocket science and it didn't cost anything.
so you agree that school ID and or a utility bill that matches your voters ID address should be enough?....Then tell the GOP that...cause in their eyes those forms of ID no longer quailify....that's what the fight is over....so glad you agree with me that what use to be ok should still be ok....
Can we secede Texas back to Mexico, please?
And then we can build a fence to keep all the former Texans from trying to come over the border into OUR country.
Even better. We can claim that Texas Pete qualifies as a WMD and invade them to steal their oil.
Although I have no great love for the Texas, can we secede California instead? One of California's claims to fame is the state having the largest illegal alien population.
Unfortunately, Texas Pete is not a product of Texas; it's made in my hometown of Winston-Salem, NC.
However, Paula Deen does wield it as a WMD on her cooking show...
Um....duh?
Cross reference Republican vs. Non-Republican (insert conservative for Republican, the correlation is very tight), and compare that to the incidence of poverty?
Couple questions:
If I'm too poor (because of you btw), to own a car, then why would I need a state issued I.D.? To buy alcohol I cannot afford? (The ER does not require a photo I.D. btw)
Do you believe that Texas didn't really care? I posit the opposite. Texas does care. They did this capriciously, in order to dodge liberal voting groups. Conservatives are terrified that their stance has become SO polarized that even poor people might vote this year.
Texas rewrites our history so why do any of these laws of manipulation surprise any of us??
don't forget the gerrymandering as well.
The official position of the Republican-controlled Texas state government appears to be, "If you have enough time, money, health and mobility, we'll grudgingly give you a voter ID. If you don't, screw you."
Basically, what Texas wants to do is deny the alleged benefits of living there to anyone who is poor, not white, and preferrably not male. And since there are a lot of women in those three categories, the state will deny them - and their children - health care, too, while they are at it. Latinos? Sure, we stole the state from Mexico but that was because we didn't want damn Mexicans living anywhere around us, let alone voting in our elections.
When I was a kid, people said that every few years someone shook the east coast of the country and all of the loose nuts rolled to California. Now, they go to Texas.
I would say the analogy of the "loose nuts" rolling to California to still be valid. I would add that the "lost marbles" are what end up in Texas.
They believe that the show Dallas was a reality show.
Trying to make sure the Hispanics don't vote for Obama...how pathetic!..When will the country wake up to the Republican agenda?...If the Republicans had there way we wouldn't even have the opportunity to vote. Obama2012...u cant stop us!!!! u will see!! we are the 99% and the youth of a nation is behind Obama!
Thank you GOP...for motivating Women, Young Adults, Senior Citizens etc...to vote Obama / Biden 2012.
Get Your act together or kiss 2016 goodbye as well!!!
Now they have the motivation, but do they have the motivation to get past the barriers the white male middle-aged Republican minority is putting up against them?
Texas' attempt to disenfranchise "certain" voters is blatantly obvious (minorities and in particular hispanics), and this outright attempt to put a highly prejudicial requirement into law is outrageous and should be found to be a violation of unconstitutionally guaranteed rights!
Of course they care. They care about eliminating those voters.
I would imagine that, in the same vein that elected Republican officials won't come on the Rachel Maddow Show, under-informed voters are probably not reading this blog either. But still, I can't thank you enough for consolidating and publishing this information so that those of us who care about the truth can speak intelligently with facts to back our views.
Doesn't surprise me one bit. They want to supress the vote because they can't win on the issues so they are trying to make it harder for people to vote. Which is not right at all. Every United States citizen deserves the right to vote!!!
and has it constitutionally. when i hear people try to say, "well this is ridiculous, of course people without id shouldnt be able to vote. you can't buy alcohol without an id, you can't drive a car without an id, you can't redeem certain govt benefits without an id," i just want to scream at them that those rights aren't specifically in the constitution.
@11.1 Were you outraged last election...and the one before that...and the one before that one........what is your record for bringing this problem of ID to the Attention of anybody in the past?
Voters Registration Card is your Voters ID. Always has been. Fact is....Voters registration card can be forged, drivers license can be forged, gun license can be forged,....any paper document can be forged. So what do you want to do now? Let's just just not Vote at all. So your arguments suggest that unauthorized people are so wanting to vote that they are buying, forging, faking and lying just to go vote? Ok, so what does stopping early voting do? What does no Sunday voting do? What is the point of these actions. Politically genius, but no one is fooled by the intentions....well some are fooled obviously.
Someone mentioned the other day that all the Republican captured states are experiencing some kind of turmoil, voter rights, womens rights, union rights, ETC, all having to do with rights. But do you hear anything like that from Democrat controlled states???? Must be something there????I was always told you don't see the big picture , I'm beginning to see the big picture and it don't look too good from where I stand..................
you do forget (or ignore, iunno) that SOPA and PIPA were very very bipartisan, and that in fact the republicans were the first to back off after the blackout day, as well as both parties passed the national defense act that has some questionable stuff for citizens. i whole-heartedly agree that in most cases it's the republicans messing everything up right now, but without a strong, cohesive, sensible second party, there really isn't anyone able to hold dems responsible when they infringe on our freedoms as well.
Seems like Texas is looking for its own catchy jingle like Virginia's "Virginia is for Haters"!
The Obama administration just blocked the Texas voter ID law.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kohm/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1911960/US/Obama.administration.blocks.Texas.voter.ID.law
Can you say "Poll Tax?"
Simple solution.
Before ANY state can enact these types of laws that state has to PROVE with convictions that a certain number of voter fraud incidents have happened.
So if you've got a million votes in an election, does ten cases prove anything? Especially if there were only two convictions.
Voter fraud is real...for Republicans. Read this: http://www.salon.com/2012/02/27/vote_fraud_retires_shameless_gop_official/
I remember reading somewhere in the last few weeks that many of the blue states (ie. democrat) have financial problems. Here I'm reading that many of the red states have issues that deal with rights. Personally, I'd rather be in a blue state because money issues can always be solved with creative thinking and ingenuity. But when dealing with rights, there's only two ways to solve the problem: take the rights totally away or give the rights to everyone equally. Problem with those solutions is, one is illegal and the other is out of the question for most Republican politicians.
The Blue states don't have tons of The Koch Brothers' money pouring in to them. They can keep their dirty money.
texas is a red state with budget issues out the wazoo. that's why they've cut nearly every public service, especially education and healthcare in the state in this last session. so how much does this infringement on rights cost the state of texas to protect, and why is that money not going to keep teachers from being layed off or pressured to retire early??
I applaud your efforts....but nobody is buying it..........
Hint: maybe posting source or facts will help. Good luck with that....
I find it ironic that you find the cost to get a use full ID to expensive for the poor, when in order to get a viable ID you must go to a Government agency. Yet your solution is that we have bigger government. The DNC is the group of bigger government, its like George Bush on steroids.
Um. The solution is that these laws don't be passed at all...which would be smaller government. It is bigger government to propose forcing people to get government issued IDs in the first place. That would be the Republican Party who is enforcing 'Big Government' principles. But at least we can agree on the George Bush part.
Chem, you oughta check your figures and your fuzzy math back it up with proof and then get back to us.
Former Congressman Lincoln Davis in Tennessee is filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of the voters purged from the rolls in Tennessee. He was denied the right to vote last week in the primary. And word on the street is that the progressive/liberal wing of the party made a BIG showing at the delegate conventions over the weekend - finally proving once and for all that yes, we exist and yes, we know how to work together (for now). Thanks for all of the coverage you have given to voting rights issues.
Keeping citizens from voting is UN-AMERICAN!
Just like it is better that 100 guilty persons go free than 1 innocent person be sent to prison or the needle,
It is better that 1 non-citizen be allowed to slip through cracks in the system and vote than to try to stop him and in the process keep 10,000 citizens from exercising their RIGHT to vote.
All these state laws have the effect of a) a poll tax and b) put the burden of paying out of their pocket on the poor for this new effort to keep somewhere between 1 and 100 non-citizens in Texas from voting. Yes, I said less than 101 per election in all of TX.
Because of this, there can be no doubt that it is all a cynical plot to help Repubs win elections and subvert and or thwart the will of the majority in this democratic republic.
It is UN-AMERICAN!!!
The US Justice Dept. is responsible for seeing that all voters rights are secured and the residence of those voters should not be particularly important. These laws should be challenged in all states when it comes to voting. Holder should be filing suit in every state that has passed new laws that will disproportionately affect minority voters because that is the basis for a judicial constitutional review of those laws. It would be very difficult for courts and the Justice Dept. to ignore those suits or try to settle or dismiss the cases without triggering a reaction from minority groups. Citizens United triggered the Occupy Movement and I am certain the SCOTUS regrets the decision. The abortion laws have triggered the womens movement to become politically active. Another similar decision on voting rights from the SCOTUS would certainly trigger a major political fight if Obama gets to name another justice. And Obama would have public opinion on his side.
DOJ has special jurisdiction over states with long histories of denying minorities equal access to the voting booth. That's why it can make a ruling on the discriminatory, Jim Crow photo ID laws in TX and SC, but not in WI and IN. I saw a quote from one of the US Reps from TX about how this ruling was stepping on the expressed wishes of a majority of TX voters. Of course, a majority of TX voters approved of outright racism and systematically denied voting rights to minorities, which is WHY the DOJ can and must monitor the rights of ALL US citizens in that state.
how can it be the expressed wishes of the majority of texas when the vast majority of the eligible voters never turn out to vote?
Yep- these new Republican-sponsored "voter ID" laws are all about preventing the rampant "voter fraud" that's been sweeping the nation... since the last election that Republicans predominantly won. Really. And if the rights of anyone elderly, poor or otherwise disenfranchised are lost in the process, that's just a small price to pay.
I don't think there's anything nefarious about getting people proper identification, in and of itself. But I DO believe that the motivation behind the enactment of all this legislation; and the way it's being done systematically, by one party, in response to a non-existent problem, IS nefarious.
And when ANYone's right to vote in this country--which is supposed to be sacrosanct--is infringed upon, then the motive AND the process AND those leaders should all be sharply scrutinized.
There should be a law that no laws be changed concerning voting in an election year, it is too obvious.
I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, but let's not forget that Texas also has the blatantly unconstitutional driver responsibility program which penalizes people who have already paid their fines an additional surcharge annually for three years, a violation of double jeopardy. If the surcharge is not paid, your license is suspended. Approximately 1.2 drivers in Texas have had their licenses suspended for this reason alone. So now they are disenfranchised as well.
1.2 millon
well, they could still pay extra to get the id, but they'd have to find a way to the dmv, as well as a way to the polls on voting days. and don't forget, texas is not big on the whole public transportation thing.
This sounds like something they also do in Arizona they hand out a bunch of bogus tickets to make money for the State.
Getting proper documents or anything done from the Tx DPS can be a nightmare. Last year I had to get my DL renewed. Spent 3 hours in the HOT Texas sun standing on the sidewalk in a very long line outside their building, and the next 2 hours inside in line. They had two people working the counter and one person giving driving tests. My bad back and knee made this almost impossible to complete. The lady in line in front of me was with her daughter trying to renew her learner's permit. After the 5 hour wait, she was told that she also needed a copy of her last report card (even on renewal) and turned them away to have to repeat the process. The state has cut back staff and funding and made it a whole day's hard work to get a driver's license, ID card, or anything from the DPS. This hardship alone will defeat many people from getting the proper documents. And don't think for one minute that this scenario is not a part of the bigger plan to disenfranchise voters !!!
Can't they just take voters pictures when they go to vote so there isn't any voter fraud. Sounds a little easier. I think they need a whole new television show that exposes all of these local Governments' legislation. The things that we were laughing at that we thought would never happen are coming to light. What are they doing in Democratic States besides scratching their heads?