Old Arguments Rehashed as Voter ID Trial Begins
Supporters and opponents of Texas Senate Bill 14 — which requires voters to present photo identification such as a driver’s license, passport or military ID in order to cast a ballot — rehashed old arguments Monday as the state-federal showdown over the voter ID law went in front of a federal three-judge panel.
Opponents have said the law would affect minority and elderly voters unfairly, while proponents have argued that it helps to secure polls against voter fraud.
In the first part of a five-day trial in a U.S. district court in Washington, Monday’s proceedings began with an opening ...
Comments (14)
Selim Mrabet via Texas Tribune on Facebook
slt
Rudy Gonzales
Every state should provide, to every qualified voter, pictured ID cards to every voter under any condition and in nursing homes and any other place they reside. Then the TEA-Republican's would have not argument at all. Till then, states across the nation with TEA-Republican's in control, will continue their skewed reform tactics.
WUSRPH
Whenever I hear the GOP pushing its "you only have a right to vote if you vote RIGHT" program by talking about 43 cases of voter fraud, etc. I remember a lesson by an old legislative hand when I first went to work around the Texas Leg. It was:
Whenever someone uses a number or a percentage ALWAYS ASK "OF WHAT".
Claiming there are 200 cases of voter fraud sounds terrible (as any one case is) but if those were 200 votes out of 2 milion...It has a lot less meaning....Unfortunately, so far the GOP has declined to talk about the "of whats" because doing so would undermine its effort to hinder voting by those people who just won't "VOTE for the RIGHT."
lewis ramsey
As in the redistricting case, the Texas Attorney General is hoping that the Federal Courts invalidate current laws as regards to civil rights. No Federal Court has ever upheld a Voter ID law in a state covered by the Voting Rights Act. Indiana is not covered by the VRA. Georgia was precleared by Alberto Gonzales of the Bush Justice Department over the objections of career USDOJ lawyers. This will be the first time a Federal Court will have ruled on Voter ID in a state covered by the VRA. The only way that Texas can prevail is if the courts change the law -- which is always a possibility.
gypsy314 ne
I support the voter ID law and it should be law if the judges whats every vote to count. The ID is free get one.
gypsy314 ne
Only illegal aliens and folks who want to cheat at the voting polls want to see voter ID be held back until the Obama and democrats election is over Obama and democrats will need all the illegal aliens and dead people to count for them this time around. Um we need the black panthers to guard the polls or should we call for the white panthers, Asia panthers what about we just call American panthers. Most Americans do not know that Obama marched with the new black panthers in Alabama 2007 I think most Americans that take the time to check it out will know were this man comes from now and Americans put this fool in office.
JC DemocratofTejas
Old arguments rehashed. And why not. Texas Senate Bill 14 is a partisan ploy, and continued arguments against it is what democracy is all about. Duh!
JC DemocratofTejas
BTW-gypsy still sucks!
Steven Kite
Of COURSE the law is discriminatory. It's MEANT to be. If you're voting Democrat, if you're a liberal or a socialist or a sane human being, you should not, and in our properly structured Texas you WILL not, have any voice whatsoever.
Nor, shortly, will you have any "rights" whatsoever.
Because God hates you. Yes, you, personally.
Adele Roberson
Robo calls telling voters in Wisconsin that if they signed the recall petition, they did not need to vote in the election... Election Day emails falsely informing Virginia college students that voting was postponed 24 hours… Text messages alerting Florida students that Tuesday voting was for Republicans only… 100,000 robocalls telling Maryland Democrats their candidate would win without their votes…
These are all real-life voter suppression case studies exposed in a shocking new Common Cause report [1]. And they're just a taste of the onslaught of bullying, misinformation and sabotage voters may face in 2012.
Common Cause has a plan to fight back -- and protect the fundamental right to cast a ballot for hundreds of thousands of voters across the country -- but your involvement is essential.
Will you join Common Cause at the polls in your state and help us ensure that no deceitful Election Day tactics go uncaught?
You can sign up as a poll worker or a poll monitor, and volunteer anywhere from two hours to 14 hours. Once you do, we'll direct you to all the support, information and training you'll need.
Then, on Election Day, we'll connect you with other passionate Common Cause volunteers in your community. Together, your presence on the frontlines will help diffuse efforts to disenfranchise countless legitimate voters.
These aren't just "dirty tricks," they're crimes that should have severe consequences -- not just for individual voters, but for our democracy itself. We can help stop them.
Please join our team of election protection volunteers in your state.
The 2012 election will be one of the most hotly contested, and critically important, of this decade. And in most states, political vandals will get away with sabotaging it -- if we don't fight back.
Let's get to it,
Bob Edgar
and the rest of the team at Common Cause
Adele Roberson
The new laws regarding Voter ID is just one of the problems. Getting your picture taken will not stop the frothing at the mouth of the rabid Republicans. Next week they will find something else to yap about .They are never content unless they are at the huge black pot mixing hate and lies and dissention and bigotry into the thick black brine over a very hot fire.
Eleminating places and times for voters to access the voting booths is a disaster.
Do any of you know how difficult it is for a lower echelon employee to get the time off to go and vote.?
People sit in their ivory towers and have not the slightest idea of what goes on with ordinary people.
People who cannot afford baby sitters. People who work twelve hours a day and their employers refuse to give them the time off. Stupid people say IDs are free . Many many people in this country do not have cars, don't know where the hell to go because voteing places are changed at the last min
ute. No one seems to know why this happens. Happens in Houston all the time., becaue every
d amn thing keeps changing, don't have the fare for busses, don't have the time to stand in lines. When I cannot drive her, my housekeeper rides a bus for two hours
leaving home at six AM to my house and two hours back home
Jeez.... you whiners and complainers and especialy you great Christians... give humanity a break.
There is not enough voter fraud to spend all this time, money on this debaucle. For God's sake... it is time to back off.
James Pepper
The US Voter Registration form is not accessible to the blind and for Spanish speaking people the Spanish language form speaks in English. These are YouTube videos that show the problem http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD19A280C1FC09009
The US National form requires the blind to buy a program that costs $1400 to fill out parts of it, not all of it, and that is a Poll Tax and the form also requires the blind to draw a map of where they live and that is a literacy test. The blind cannot see, but that seems to be lost on this administration. The CDC has about 32 million Americans who are either blind or have been diagnosed with a disease that leads to blindness. These people are visually impaired and went to their doctors to find out what is wrong with their eyesight. The CDC estimates this to go to 50 million Americans by 2030.
So we are arguing here over who pays for the ID card when the Administration is violating the racial parts of the of the Voting Rights Act along with imposing a Poll Tax and Literacy test in the Voter Registration form. Its time for the US court to get a little perspective here!
Knerd Dude
ha-ha kooky liberals. Funny how all these "minorities" and "elderly" people have ID for obtaining food stamps, cashing checks, opening bank accounts, getting ultilities turned on, driving a vehicle, etc., etc., etc., but as soon as it's time to vote...
yeah the liberals would sure hate to see a lot of undocumented Democrats to not be able to vote.
GS Crispus
Usually the cases of "fraud" turn out to be felons who had their voting rights revoked, but failed to realize they are not returned after serving time. Why take away their right to vote at all if it is creating such a problem?
Is the state going to create a picture database that can be accessed at the election judge level? What is to stop those truely determined of committing fraud (according to Republican its a rampant conspiracy) from simply making fake IDs?
I remember in the 90s when the Republican party railed against "Soviet styled" government identification. I guess they have found a need to embrace it for political gain?