Well, this sounds promising.
Phil King has been talking to Democrats about a possible solution to the voter registration bill, which, in its original form, required voters to prove their citizenship in order to register to vote. This onerous requirement would have made it impossible in practice to conduct a voter registration drive, since most folks don’t have certified copies of birth certificates or a passport lying around their houses. King’s floor substitute shifts the burden of verifying citizenship to the Secretary of State’s office. Under a recent federal law that took effect on January 1 of this year, states must cross-check voter registration applications with social security and drivers license records. King’s proposal would add birth certificates and naturalization papers. If the voter’s citizenship still cannot be verified, the secretary of state would contact the appropriate local officials who would get in touch with the prospective voter to see if additional information is available.
The Democrats (Anchia, Gallego, Hochberg) are currently vetting the proposal. That may take awhile.
Like Eye on Williamson, I’m not exactly sure how this would differ from what we’re currently doing. Be that as it may, if the Democrats Burka names say they’re okay with what comes back, then I expect I’ll be okay with it as well. We’ll see what happens.
UPDATE: I’m now hearing that any optimism on this may be premature. Stay tuned.