Jim Dunam's office is reporting as of 1:00 May 29 they are 99.9% sure the Voter Intimidation Bill is dead, but they remain ever-vigilant.

restrict access to the ballot box by enforcing stricter ID requirements

Surely you meant to write "restrict fraudulent access to the ballot box by enforcing stricter ID requirements".

In all seriousness, what is wrong with requiring photo ID for such a critically important function of our society as voting? Please quantify the impact, i.e. how many valid voters do not have photo ID?

Would you be willing to compromise along the lines of a "provisional ballot" for those who cannot show photo ID, where they can vote and their vote can be later authenticated as is currently done with provisional ballots? Is that not a reasonable approach?

Sad this bill didn't pass...

Friday, June 3, 2005

Attorney General Abbott Obtains Voter Fraud Indictments In Two Counties
Hardeman County commissioner, Beeville woman indicted for mail-in ballot violations

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced his office’s first indictments for alleged voter fraud in Texas, returned in separate cases by grand juries in Hardeman and Bee counties.

"My office takes seriously the one-person, one-vote philosophy that has been the backbone of this country throughout its history," said Attorney General Abbott. "When the activities of even one person would undermine the electoral process, we will hold that person accountable."

Hardeman County Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Akers, 58, was indicted late Thursday on six counts of election fraud in Quanah. The Texas Election Code violations involve alleged unlawful methods for returning completed ballots during early voting by mail. During the April 2004 primary runoff and November 2004 general elections, the indictment alleges, Akers personally handled or mailed ballots for six persons unrelated to him over several days, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to $2,000 on each count.

On May 27, Beeville resident Melva Kay Ponce, 53, was indicted in Bee County on a charge of illegal voting. She allegedly posed as her deceased mother during early mail-in voting in the November 2004 election. Illegal voting is a third-degree felony punishable by two to10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Ponce mailed an application for a mail ballot to the Bee County Clerk’s office for her mother, Dominga Ponce, on Oct. 15, 2004, when her mother was still alive. Her mother died of natural causes on Oct. 20, and two days later the clerk’s office mailed a ballot addressed to Dominga Ponce. Despite her mother’s death, Melva Kay Ponce filled out the absentee ballot in her mother’s name. She then mailed the completed ballot back to the clerk.

The Bee County Voter Registrar, Andrea Gibbud, contacted the Bee County Sheriff’s Office about the suspicious ballot, knowing Ponce’s mother had died before the ballot could have been completed and returned.

The Attorney General’s Office investigated the allegations of election fraud at the request of the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

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1706 would have done nothing to prevent these two instances. As to casting a provisional vote, IT DOESN'T COUNT. Bruce Sherbet, Dallas County Elections Director, will personally tell you that. Why should thousands of people be denied the right to have their ballots count? These two cases sure don't justify that.