Thread: TX - Democrats decry voter ID bill ahead of hearing today

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Democrats decry voter ID bill ahead of hearing today

11:06 AM CDT on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
choppe@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Senate Democrats denounced a Republican-pushed voter ID bill as a modern-day poll tax as they laid the groundwork for a hearing today, where their concerns are certain to be plowed under by the majority.

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At issue is whether voters should have to present an identification card that includes a picture before they can vote. Republicans argue that Texans need a picture ID to get on a plane, check out a book and write a check and that it's not too much to use the same kind of precaution when voting.

But the Democratic senators, along with three voting rights experts, argued that a $1.4 million investigation by the Texas attorney general failed to uncover a single case of someone trying to impersonate an eligible voter at the polling place – and that no one in Texas had been charged with such a crime in the past two decades.

"When you look at the record, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to have anybody in this state impersonate another voter," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Republicans say the bill is basic to protecting the integrity of voting. It's a top priority for several GOP leaders and the state party.

"It's an important issue for the citizens of Texas," said Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston.

Democrats say the bill is most likely to suppress voting among the elderly, disabled and poor who don't drive.

Taking time off work to stand in line and then pay $15 for an ID card is too expensive and will cause some of his constituents to skip voting, said Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston. "All it is is a hidden poll tax," he said.

Today's hearing, in an unusual session in which the entire Senate will serve as a committee, is expected to draw crowds. The state Republican Party is sponsoring a rally in front of the Capitol, and Gov. Rick Perry has sent e-mails to supporters urging them to come. Democrats have urged party members to sign up to testify against the bill.

With the battle lines drawn, the proposal is already causing acrimony and a partisan schism that some believe will taint the remainder of the session.

Republicans, who control the Senate 19-12, muscled through a change in a long-standing Senate tradition to get the bill up for consideration today and are expected to be able to ultimately push it through the Senate, perhaps by the end of the week.

The issue's success in the House, which is divided among 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats, is less certain.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... d0910.html

Posted on Tue, Mar. 10, 2009 Comments (7) Recommend (4)

Texas lawmakers in showdown over voter ID law
By DAVE MONTGOMERYdmontgomery@star-telegram.com




AUSTIN -- A partisan showdown over legislation requiring photo identification to vote unfolded in the state Senate on Tuesday as Republicans defended the measure as a needed weapon against voter fraud while Democrats charged that it would dismantle voter rights.

"It’s more likely for a person to be struck by lightning than impersonate a voter," Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who chairs the Senate's Democratic Caucus, said in denouncing what she said was a politically motivated bill that would echo a "history of voter suppression" in Texas.

Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, the chief sponsor of SB362, said that cheating at the ballot box "has threatened the integrity of the electoral process." Voter fraud, he said, is "alive and well" in Texas and the rest of the United States.

Fraser, responding to questions by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, also contended that citizens would not be disenfranchised under his bill because it includes provisions for alternative forms of identification and provisional ballots if voters don't have photo ID.

"They're not going to leave without being able to vote," Fraser said.

In a party-line vote of 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats, senators adopted a rarely used procedure to form themselves into a committee of the whole to hear testimony on the measure. Under the scenario, Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, president pro tempore of the Senate, replaced Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst as presiding officer while the lieutenant governor took Duncan's place on the Senate floor.

Democrats slowed debate on the measure through several rules challenges that Duncan ultimately overruled.

"I think we've wasted enough of the public's time," said Fraser as he began explaining the bill after the procedural disputes.

The hearing could stretch through Thursday, with more than 100 citizens registered to speak. Fourteen expert witnesses, evenly split on both sides of the issue, were also invited to testify. It was unclear when senators would vote on amendments or the bill itself.

The proposal emerged as white-hot partisan issue on the first day of the 2009 Legislature in mid-January when the Senate adapted a controversial rules change that effectively kept Democrats from blocking the bill.

Since then, both sides have steadily staked out their strategy in preparing for Tuesday's hearing, with Republicans contending that ID requirements are urgently needed and Democrats warning that it would disenfranchise the elderly, minorities and other constituencies unlikely to have photo identification.

Minority organizations opposing the bill and red-clad Republican groups urging its passage swarmed through the capitol and filled the gallery for the start of the debate. At one point, Dewhurst banged his gavel after a round of applause for Van de Putte, saying he would insist on order in the chamber.

"It's probably going to be a long day," he told spectators.

Mary Ann Collins, a Republican from Dallas, drove to Austin on Wednesday and sat in the gallery doing needle-point while waiting for the start of the session. Collins, an election judge for 27 years, said she has seen people who have tried to vote illegally.

"I think it’s time to put a stop to that," she said.

Democrats made an unsuccessful attempt to add Attorney General Greg Abbott to the witness list to press their case that the type of voter fraud targeted by the bill is non-existent in Texas.

"You’re not doing to produce him and he is ignoring our request," Van de Putte told Duncan, saying Democrats had sent a Fax to Abbott on Monday. But Duncan responded that Abbott's testimony would be inappropriate since his office would be charged with handling any litigation arising from the photo ID issue.

The bill would require voters to present "an acceptable form of photo identification" at the polling booth, such as a driver's license or a U.S. passport. Voters without photo ID would still be able to vote by presenting two other forms of identification, such as birth certificates, library cards and hunting or fishing licenses, said Fraser.

Registered voters without such paperwork would be permitted to cast provisional ballots, said the bill's sponsor.

Election fraud investigations by the attorney general's office have yielded indictments against 30 suspects and prosecutions against 22, including fraud involving mail-in ballots and schemes to illegally obtain voter registration cards.

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal advocacy organizations say they have found no cases of in-person voter impersonation at the polls, which the photo ID law is designed to prevent.

Calls for toughening protections at the ballot box have increased nationally in recent years as part of the larger debate over border security and illegal immigration.

Twenty-four states require some form of voter identification, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Seven require photo ID: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and South Dakota.

Missouri's photo ID requirement was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2006. But the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, upheld Indiana's photo ID law in April 2008, ruling that the statute was part of the state's legitimate efforts to suppress voter fraud.

A similar statute that went into effect in Georgia in 2007 has also survived legal challenges. Under the Georgia law, a voter who shows up without a photo ID can cast a provisional ballot and has 48 hours to return to the voting registrar's office to verify his or her identity.

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1249468.html

Maybe im just naive, but how in the world can you be an American citizen and not have some form of state issued ID? The need to keep illegal invaders from tainting and undermining our political process would seem to outweigh any possible disenfranchisement argument the Dems are so willing to put forth.

I know...why don't the Dems attach a provision in the Stimulus Bill to assist those who cannot afford state identification! They are taking care of everyone else, why not Americans who cannot afford state identification!

That way, Americans who cannot afford ID get to vote and we also get to insure the integrity of the political process by keeping those away from the polls who have no legal right to participate!

Taking time off work to stand in line and then pay $15 for an ID card is too expensive...

Or could it be that these poor workers are using fraudulent documents? And could it be that their $15 dollars is urgently needed back in the old country. Would love to see the legal and illegal make-up of Mario's constituency.
Even my 88-year old mother has a photo ID, even though she has never driven a car in her life. Even some health clinics ask for photo ID before accepting Medicare and insurance cards. Photo ID is required in most stores when you pay by credit card, as the companies have also been hit by fraud.
And for someone to declare that voter fraud has never happened, they are living in the days of Ozzie and Harriet, because there has been voter registration fraud all over the country by ACORN.
Better to be safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by vortex

Taking time off work to stand in line and then pay $15 for an ID card is too expensive...

Or could it be that these poor workers are using fraudulent documents? And could it be that their $15 dollars is urgently needed back in the old country. Would love to see the legal and illegal make-up of Mario's constituency.
Even my 88-year old mother has a photo ID, even though she has never driven a car in her life. Even some health clinics ask for photo ID before accepting Medicare and insurance cards. Photo ID is required in most stores when you pay by credit card, as the companies have also been hit by fraud.
And for someone to declare that voter fraud has never happened, they are living in the days of Ozzie and Harriet, because there has been voter registration fraud all over the country by ACORN.
Better to be safe than sorry.

Yep, you're right about voter fraud and ACORN. The Buckeye Institute is suing ACORN here in Ohio on behalf of two American voters (apparently, all that is needed for a class action suit) because their voting rights were basically negated by illegal aliens who voted.