More on the voter ID bill

Here's the letter (PDF) that Sen. Ellis and others sent to Lt. Gov. Dewhurst regarding voter ID bills. Nothing new information-wise, but as you can see it was signed by all 11 Democratic Senators. It's nice to see such unity on a vital matter like this.

There's also the ominous possibility that it won't matter.

Dewhurst, who presides over the Texas Senate, supports the photo ID requirement, spokesman Mike Wintemute said, and expects the Senate to advance a proposal to Gov. Rick Perry.

The comments surfaced after Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said Wednesday that 10 fellow Senate Democrats have committed to joining him in blocking Senate debate on the photo ID mandate, which opponents call an intimidation tool likely to suppress minority voting. The mandate is opposed by the Texas Democratic Party, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Common Cause of Texas.

Eleven "no" votes would be enough to prevent debate under the Senate's tradition of requiring a two-thirds margin of the 31-member body to bring up proposals, although Dewhurst can bypass the tradition.

Wintemute cautioned against counting Senate votes prematurely: "It's too early in the process to be making assurances about where any senator is."

[...]

Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, chairman of the House Committee on Elections, predicted the House will send the Senate a proposal requiring voters to present a photo ID before voting and also requiring residents to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote.

If Dewhurst wants the identification requirement to pass into law, Berman said, he can suspend the two-thirds' tradition or "twist a few arms."

"What happens over there (in the Senate) is the lieutenant governor's problem," Berman said. Dewhurst, he said, "needs that passed; he wants that passed."

In other words, what really matters is how much David Dewhurst wants to win a Republican primary for Governor. The camel's nose is already inside the tent on that one, so I'm thinking some real old-fashioned filibustering may be needed here. Don't rest easy just yet.

To address a point that came up in the comments of my previous post:

Texas is among 17 states requiring identification but not necessarily a photo ID. Voters may present a voter registration card or a driver's license, Department of Public Safety identification card, birth certificate, passport or official mail sent to the person by name by a governmental agency.

We already do require ID to vote. The point of these bills is to add more requirements, both at registration time (do you make a point of carrying a birth certificate or passport with you?) and at voting time. People who don't have driver's licenses, for instance, will find it more difficult to vote. This is why the main, if not only, purpose of this legislation, which purports to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist, is to make it harder to vote. Which is to say, its purpose is to make it harder for people to exercise their fundamental, Constitutional right to vote. Period.

Now, Inside the Texas Capitol says that in the event such a bill passes, the Department of Justice would be conducting a review to see if it would infringe on the voting rights of minorities. Normally, I'd say that's good news, but given how the fix is in, I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation of a rescue. This needs to be killed, now and in the future, until sanity and a better Lege reign.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 15, 2007 to That's our Lege