Impassioned testimony over voter ID

By JAY ROOT Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
April 6, 2009, 5:40PM

AUSTIN, Texas — Efforts to create new ID requirements for Texas voters sparked impassioned debate Monday in the Legislature, where Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the proposals as the crucial 2010 elections approach.

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, conjured up the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, saying the proposals for tighter ID measures are the modern equivalent of the Jim Crow laws that were used to suppress minority turnout for decades.

"This is a racial issue, make no mistake about it," said Veasey, who is black. "Can you really sleep with yourself at night knowing that if this bill is passed, that most of the people that would be denied the right to vote are going to be black, brown and poor?"

Veasey made his comments during a public hearing on the proposal in the House Elections Committee. The panel is taking a crack at the legislation that passed on a strict party-line vote in the state Senate last month.

The bill would require Texas voters to present a photo ID or two non-photo ID alternatives — such as a marriage license and a utility bill — before being allowed to cast a regular ballot.

During the sometimes heated hearing, expected to last into the night, conservative experts said voter ID laws bolster the democratic process because citizens gain confidence that elections aren't rigged or fraud-ridden.

"If people stop believing in the process, voter turnout goes down," said Republican Todd Rokita, the secretary of state of Indiana, which has a tough photo ID requirement for voters. "When voter turnout goes down, we lose the republic."

A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Indiana's voter ID law, considered the strictest in the nation. Several voter ID bills are pending in state legislatures holding sessions this year, including Texas.

John Fund, a Wall Street Journal columnist and author of the book "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," said ID requirements are commonplace outside the United States.

"We're the only country in the world — the only country in the world — that operates on the honor system when it comes to elections," Fund said.

Republicans — who control both houses of the Legislature and all statewide elective offices — say the new ID rules are needed to protect against voter fraud. Democrats complain that the GOP wants to suppress Democratic turnout by erecting hurdles that disproportionately affects their base vote.

The Senate version of the bill would take effect ahead of the 2010 statewide and legislative elections, after which state lawmakers will redraw the boundaries for their own districts and those for Texas members of the U.S. Congress.

Rep. Todd Smith, R-Bedford, chairs the Elections Committee and said he expects to write his own version of the legislation. Smith has said he favors slowly phasing in the changes, giving Texas time to educate and register voters.

"What we're looking for here tonight from the experts who have been asked to testify are for ideas on how we might enhance the security of our elections while simultaneously expanding access to the polls," Smith said.

Democrats argue the claims of voter fraud are wildly exaggerated, particularly the "voter impersonation" phenomenon that new ID requirements would target. Democrat Dianne Trautman, who narrowly lost a bid to become Harris County's tax assessor and collector last year, called on the Legislature to do more to ensure that people who are registered to vote aren't unfairly knocked off the rolls.

"Please quit trying to solve a phantom voter impersonation problem, and do something about the thousands of eligible voters whose names weren't on the voter rolls in Harris County when voting began last year," she said. "Those are real numbers, of real people, being denied the right to vote."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6361588.html