Tag Archives: drivers licenses

What they didn’t tell us about voter ID

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Republicans knew fully well that their voter ID bill would disenfranchise a lot of people. They just didn’t care. Republican state officials working to pass a voter photo ID law in 2011 knew that more than 500,000 of the state’s … Continue reading →

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It shouldn’t be this hard to get a driver’s license

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

And for most people it isn’t that hard. But for some people, it is. Daniela Parker has two mothers, a circumstance that turned a typically routine matter – scheduling a road test for a Texas driver’s license – into a … Continue reading →

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Texas woman denied driver’s license over same-sex marriage

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the headline of this Observer story, and it’s just as infuriating as you think it is. A woman who recently relocated from California says the Texas Department of Public Safety refused to issue her an accurate driver’s license because … Continue reading →

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Once again, voter fraud by impersonation just doesn’t exist

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Washington Post: Election fraud happens. But ID laws are not aimed at the fraud you’ll actually hear about. Most current ID laws (Wisconsin is a rare exception) aren’t designed to stop fraud with absentee ballots (indeed, laws requiring … Continue reading →

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Students against voter ID

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

A new front is opened in the fight against voter ID. Civil rights groups have spent a decade fighting requirements that voters show photo identification, arguing that this discriminates against African-Americans, Hispanics and the poor. This week in a North … Continue reading →

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Saturday mini-link roundup

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Three stories you should read that I didn’t have time to devote a full post to: AusChron: Abbott’s abject CPRIT failures The scandal broke after letters between the agency’s chief science officer, Nobel laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman, and CPRIT’s Chief … Continue reading →

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We still have no idea what the effect of the voter ID law will be

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart declares victory for voter ID. The final results of the 2014 Democratic and Republican March 4th Primary Elections have been approved by the Democratic and Republican Parties. The results show that less … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Another lawsuit filed against the voter ID law

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Observer reports. Election Day last week brought plenty of complaints at the polls about Texas’ new voter ID law, but it also brought one major complaint in Corpus Christi federal court, where nine voters joined La Unión Del Pueblo Entero … Continue reading →

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It’s about the people who don’t have ID

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve had plenty of blue-sky stories telling us that the voter ID law has been no big deal. A few provisional ballots and some number of affidavits, sure, but everyone who’s wanted to vote has been able to vote, right? … Continue reading →

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Affidavits everywhere

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Dallas County. At least one out of every seven early voters in Dallas County has had to sign an affidavit verifying his or her identity as part of Texas’ new voter ID law. Though no one in Dallas County has … Continue reading →

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The problem with voter ID is more than just name matching

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Cindy George is correct about what isn’t a problem with voter ID. The names on your voter registration card and your ID must match. For the most part. They will be considered the same if they’re “substantially similar.” There have … Continue reading →

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Where are all the teenage drivers?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a lot less of them than there used to be. Between 2001 and 2010, Texas added only 2,578 drivers age 16 to 21 while the age group grew by more than 238,000 statewide, dropping the percentage with a license … Continue reading →

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Drivers licenses for all – maybe

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Not quite drivers licenses, exactly, but close enough. A Dallas Democrat has teamed up with two powerful Republicans to craft a compromise version of a bill that would give immigrants here illegally the ability to drive legally in Texas and … Continue reading →

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Voter ID and the Driver Responsibility Program

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Grits returns to a question he has asked before. The Dallas News last week (March 24) published a feature behind the paywall by reporter Terrence Stutz titled “Texas lawmakers want brakes put on driver surcharges for road violations,” as well … Continue reading →

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Poli Sci profs against voter ID

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Rice political science professor Mark Jones writes an op-ed in the Chron that does a thorough job of dissecting Texas’ contentious voter ID law. Nearly one out of every three Texas counties lacks an operational DPS office, and no office … Continue reading →

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Why no ID?

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Grits asks an interesting question. Why do so many adult Texans lack ID? In part because 2 million drivers have had their drivers licenses revoked because of nonpayment of the Driver Responsibility Surcharge, which readers will recall is a stiff … Continue reading →

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Why do we make it so hard to vote?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

News item: Many voter registrations around the country are outdated or incorrect. Some 24 million voter registrations in the United States contain significant errors, including about 1.8 million dead people still on the rolls and many more approved to vote … Continue reading →

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News flash: Voter ID will mean fewer people can vote

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as shocked as you are. As many as a quarter of voters in some small Texas counties might not be able to cast ballots if the federal government allows the new state voter ID law to go … Continue reading →

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Justice Department urged to block voter ID law

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I’m all in on this. A coalition of civil rights groups is urging the Obama administration’s Justice Department to reject Texas’ voter-ID law, charging that the measure advocated by Rick Perry intentionally discriminates against black and Hispanic voters. The Legislature … Continue reading →

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DPS Megacenters

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure what I think about this. With a $63 million infusion from the Legislature, state officials hope to cut the legendary long lines and irritating red tape at driver’s license centers across Texas with upgraded technology and new “megacenters” … Continue reading →

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DPS loses lawsuit over drivers license rules

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This happened the week before last, but I’m not sure it will matter at this point. On [July 29], Judge Orlinda Naranjo ruled against the Texas Department of Public Safety and said that the agency could no longer require those … Continue reading →

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The consolation prize

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Republicans couldn’t get their act together enough to pass the “sanctuary cities” bill, but they did manage to do this. A provision in the approved Senate Bill 1, the special session’s must-pass school finance bill, will require people to … Continue reading →

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Voter ID 2011

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The debate is going on in the Senate today over voter ID – it will be taken up by the House later, after committee hearings that are sure to be a freak show. You can follow the ins and outs … Continue reading →

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Driver records available online

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

You know how you need to mail a request to get a copy of your driver’s record when you request to take a defensive driving course to get a ticket dismissed? Now you can save yourself a stamp and order … Continue reading →

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Man the barricades!

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Wayne Slater, on the just-ended state Republican convention in Dallas: For a party in power, there seem to be a lot of martyrs in the Texas GOP. Rush Limbaugh says Democrats are the party of victims. But it was the … Continue reading →

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Our teen drivers are better than yours

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Good news is always welcome. A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute found that the state’s rate of fatal teen crashes is dropping faster here than anywhere. Researchers looked at 37 states that put restrictions on teen drivers’ licenses … Continue reading →

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Where’d that driver’s license data come from?

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Lone Star Project revisits the matter of Ed Johnson and Dwayne Bohac and their cozy relationship as business partners with a real in at the Harris County Tax Assessor’s office. Last month, the Lone Star Project revealed that Harris … Continue reading →

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Tuesday Lege roundup

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Some more notes about what has been happening in the Lege… – It looks like the program to test high school athletes for steroids will be scaled back. Texas lawmakers have reached a deal to slash steroid testing of public … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Court issues injunction against DPS over drivers license rules

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

A district court judge has suspended the new drivers license rules implemented by the Department of Public Safety pending a civil trial on the grounds that DPS didn’t have the authority to do what it did. The rules prevent thousands … Continue reading →

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Two immigration stories

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Governor Perry writes a letter to the Department of Homeland Security. Perry asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week to take a series of steps to improve information-sharing between federal, state and local law enforcement. The Homeland Security-related issues … Continue reading →

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The Heflin plan for voter ID

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

While I still have hope that voter ID can be stopped one more time, I can certainly understand the viewpoint that a sufficiently determined Republican majority can push through what it wants to if it really tries, especially if we … Continue reading →

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Dems seek repeal of new DPS rules

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We didn’t have any voter ID action yesterday, but we did have this. Some Democratic lawmakers joined by Texas residents who have had trouble getting drivers’ licenses under new Department of Public Safety rules pushed Monday for legislation that would … Continue reading →

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