Bill would require voters to show ID

[last_texas_dem]

Critics say effort targeting fraud could hurt minorities and seniors

by Mark Lisheron
American Statesman Staff
April 19, 2005


>>The chairman of the House Elections Committee said Monday that she has "quiet" bipartisan support for a bill that would require citizens to present a valid form of identification to be allowed to vote in Texas.

The Texas House is expected to consider Rep. Mary Denny's House Bill 1706 during its regular session today.

snip

>>This conjures up a really bad memory (of poll taxes) for me," said Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, who is African American. "This is just another excuse to keep people out of the voting system."

Laurie VanHoose of Advocacy Inc. said she thinks disenfranchising voters is a bigger problem in Texas than voter fraud. If this bill were to pass, she said, honest voters would be kept from the polls.>>

ON EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to link to the article:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/04/19voting.html

Am I just being cynical that I'm suspicious of any efforts by the TX Repugs to "curb voter fraud"? :eyes:

[acmejack]

1. No, you're correct to be leery

It is another ruse to disenfranchise poor and minority voters. Fraud is way down the list of voting issues. They are just redirecting the conversation away from election fraud.

[Warpy]

2. No, not at all

The repugs tried that shit in NM last year and fought it all the way up to the state supreme court. The argument against it here was that out on the rez, nobody bothers with ID papers because they already know each other and the traditional types don't drive, so there are no driver's licenses. It would have placed an undue burden on them and upon anyone else who didn't drive a car or had their licenses suspended for any of a number of reasons (including poor eyesight). These folks VOTE, but such a requirement would have kept them from the polls.

It's a bad idea. Whoever wants to commit fraud by pretending to be another person has to know that person's birthdate and/or social security number. It just won't happen. Alert poll workers will weed them out.

It's amazing they're pulling this shit when the real problem is their own crooked voting machines. They're just trying to restrict the voting pool. This garbage has no other purpose.

[crispini]

4. Question:

"Whoever wants to commit fraud by pretending to be another person has to know that person's birthdate and/or social security number. "

How is that true? I certainly don't know all of the voters in my polling place (where I am an election judge). All a voter would need to do is get ahold of somebody else's valid voter registration card and bing, you're in like Flynn. :shrug:

[Warpy]

6. First, that's easier said than done

and second, the birthdate and SSN are not on the registration cards here. They're questions one is asked at the polls to verify identification.

Simple. "Hef you got ze papers?" is simply not required.

Besides, how many voter registration cards could a ballot box stuffer steal?

This is a transparent attempt to keep people from voting. Period.

[crispini]

7. I was never instructed to ask somebody their birthday or SSN.

and that information is most definitely not in our polling books and is not checked as a matter of course. It can be checked if there's a problem, but at my polling place, if you had valid blue voter registration card that checked against the polling book, you were good to go, no problem.

I DID have many, many voters spontaneously offer me their drivers licenses and seem surprised that I didn't look at it. People have to show their driver's licenses everywhere -- when they fill out a check, when they go to a bar, on and on and on. I dunno, I don't see that much of a problem with it myself. :shrug:

Edited to add: You have to show ID when you *register* to vote -- so how is this all that much more onerous?

[Warpy]

9. Laws vary from state to state

and remember I'm talking about NEW MEXICO. This is the way it is done here. We go in, tell the poll worker our names, the poll worker asks for SSN and/or DOB, and we confirm our identity that way. We don't have to show our registration cards. We don't have to show ID. We just have to know our names and numbers.

I had to turn in a card that had been mailed to me in Mass. and Md, but those were both years ago.

[Trillo]

3. I don't know, there sure seems a lot of evidence that fraud is how biz

of most kinds is done today.

I certainly think if you need to show ID to vote, the secrecy of the ballot is called into question. We're supposed to 'believe' our ballots are secret?

Nor does this do anything to open the 'counting of votes' process to all voters: therefore, the 'transparency' of identifying voters to 'authorities' is a one-way street.

[sonias]

5. Bad bill

It really has very little to do with voter fraud and more with voter suppression. It is the poor and elderly who are less likely to carry identification since they may not drive.

"There is support for this bill, and there is quiet support from representatives in districts where voter fraud has been a problem, some in their own elections," Denny said. "All people want to know is that their vote is safe and that they know they are the ones casting it."

If Representative Mary Denny really wants to reassure people that their votes are safe, then she should support HB166 (verified paper ballot bill) and HB3383 (open SOS vendor certification process) That will reassure me more that our votes are safe, rather than having to show an ID to vote.

Sonia

[redqueen]

8. It's unconstitutional.

If it passes the ACLU will fight it.

[sonias]

10. Blockbuster brand democracy (Texas Civil Rights Review blog)

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/
Denny yesterday sounded just like a top Republican attorney from Atlanta last month who told the Texas Civil Rights Review that "photo IDs are required to rent movies." Unless something different happens in Texas, this photo ID bill will pass on party-line votes just like it did in Georgia and in several other states where Republicans dominate the legislatures.

Republicans heading up these efforts do not claim that there is an ID problem among current voters. That's not what's broken. Rather, they say the problem is that voters are failing to behave like corporate customers and they say it like it's a problem that needs fixing. They say it like we should be ashamed of ourselves for not behaving more like Blockbuster customers when it comes time to exercise our sacred right to vote.

Our best guess for why this is really happening? It is part of the Republican strategy to better manage the voting pool. As election analysts repeat time and again, the more voters in the pool there are, the more likely Democrats are to win, because try as they might, Democrats can't shake the image of being the party most helpful to most people. So in the game of percentages, why wouldn't the Republican Party want to keep the voting pool from growing?

More at link above. Good work Greg!

Sonia

[sonias]

11. License To Vote

http://www.inthepinktexas.com/index.php?p=180
Ohhhhh, how I've longed to hear those five little words ever since I crossed the dreaded *30* mark… "Can I See Some ID?"

But I wanted to show my ID to some young bartender, not to an ELECTION OFFICER.

Rep. Mary Denny’s bill on who gets to vote in Texas was scheduled to hit the House floor today but it was sent back to committee, apparently for being underage. Or maybe it just didn't have proper ID.

HB 1706, co-authored by Rep. Pitts, Rep. Woolley, Rep. Nixon and Rep. Bohac, would amend the Election Code by requiring would-be voters to show a photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID at the polls, along with their voter registration cards.

Nice photos of the Chairwoman herself. :evilgrin:
Go read the blog.

Sonia

[Lithos]

12. It's a cost to the user

For those without a driving license, it costs time and money to obtain another legal form of id. And on top of it all, you have to show up during working hours which adds to the cost for those who are hourly workers. Or for those who are not working and can't drive, you have to get someone else to drive you or hire a cab/take a bus - again another financial burden.

This is just a form of a poll tax.

The amount of fraud perpetrated by people using other people's voter registration cards is small. Plus when fraud is committed, it is usually done by the election officials (ballot stuffing/alteration or rigging on electronic) for which this change has zero effect.

L-