Emotional voter ID bill debate ends in passage

[sonias]

AAS 3/23/11
Emotional voter ID bill debate ends in passage

Democrats in the usually congenial Texas House gave heated speeches Wednesday - sometimes with raised voices - against the Republicans' voter ID bill, which they said discriminates against minorities. But after a long day and night of debate, Democrats just didn't have to votes to significantly change or derail the measure.

The bill passed 101-48.

The Senate passed its version earlier in the legislative session. Both chambers were tasked by Gov. Rick Perry with making voter ID legislation a priority.

The measure would require Texans to show a valid photo ID - such as a driver's license or state-issued ID card, a military ID or a passport - to vote. The measure in the House is more stringent than the Senate version.

Speaking against the bill, Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas , said there is "intentional disenfranchising of African Americans and Latinos" in the bill.

This shove through of a solution in search of a problem is a very good example of the tyranny of the majority.

I for one am very proud that the Democrats spent 11 hours laying down a case for a legal challenge. They fought with dignity and honor, knowing that the bill was going to pass, but refusing to lay down and just take it. In the words of one of my favorite revolutionaries, Emiliano Zapata "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

Bravo to all the Democrats that fought for every voter keeping their right to vote. :applause::applause::applause:

[sonias]

1. Republicans To Raid The Texas Mobility Fund To Pay For Photo I.D.

Press Release from the Office of Representative Rafael Anchia HD103
March 23, 2011

REPUBLICANS TO RAID THE TEXAS MOBILITY FUND TO PAY FOR PHOTO I.D.

SB 14 Could Cost Texas Mobility Fund up to $14 Million Per Biennium
Move Violates ARTICLE III(49-k)(f) of the Texas Constitution

(Austin)–Using data provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, State Representative
Rafael Anchia has calculated that enacting SB 14 could result in a loss to the Texas Mobility
Fund of as much as $14 million in the next biennium.

SB 14 requires the DPS to provide free state ID’s to anyone who is registered to vote, or
who registers to vote when they apply. The ‘free ID’ provision is necessary to maintain the
constitutionality of the bill under the 14th Amendment.

If the cost of providing free ID’s for people who have moved or changed names were included in
the bill, the cost would rise to $9 million per year.

Addressing the cost, Representative Anchia said, “Think of all the revenue that’s going to be
lost when people figure out that they can get the state ID for free instead of paying $16.
Why would anyone spend $16 when they can get their state ID for free? ” He continued,
“This is money that’s supposed to be used for building roads, and raiding the fund is a
clear violation of ARTICLE III(49-k)(f) of the Texas Constitution”

In 2010, the DPS issued 693,884 state ID’s which produced over $9 million in revenue
for the Texas Mobility Fund, which is the trust fund pledged to paying back bonds used
to finance the construction and expansion of state highways. The Texas Constitution
specifically protects this fund from being “reduced, rescinded, or repealed.” If the
Legislature reduces the revenue for the Mobility Fund, it risks requiring the use of General
Revenue to make up the difference to pay our bond debt; and may also limit the amount
the state is able to bond for transportation projects in the future on an ongoing basis.
“There’s a very good reason the Constitution protects the Mobility Fund from being raided
by the Legislature to pay for partisan pet projects,” said Representative Anchia. “Our
state’s fiscal credibility rests on our ability to assure investors that our word is our bond,
and that this trust fund will not be tampered with.”

Representative Rafael Anchia is a former DISD school board trustee serving his third term in the
Texas House and represents District 103 of northwest Dallas County.

Anchia was the General on our side defending us. Incredibly intelligent and a real fighter! He will be shown as being on the right side of history.

:patriot:

[sonias]

2. Texas House passes voter ID bill

Fort Worth Star-Telegram 3/24/11
Texas House passes voter ID bill
(snip)
All votes against the bill were by Democrats. They said the measure would disenfranchise poor and minority voters and is targeting a problem -- in-person voter fraud -- that doesn't exist. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, said the bill would effectively return Texas to the days of Jim Crow.

"I think it's horrible," Veasey said. "I think it discriminates against people. I think we'll look back in shame."

Several kinds of government-issued photo identification would be accepted, including a driver's license, a U.S. military ID card and a U.S. passport. The cost of the bill was a point of contention, as the Department of Public Safety would be required to waive fees for issuing photo IDs to those who say they are getting them to vote.

We will look back on this in shame, one day.

[sonias]

3. Voter ID clears hurdle in House

San Antonio Express News 3/24/11
Voter ID clears hurdle in House
(snip)
But Democrats spoke passionately of past discrimination against minorities and characterized voter ID as the same.

“Conservatives cannot do the right thing when it comes to race. It’s just too hard,” said Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, recalling historic fights against school segregation and for voter rights.

Because Republicans defeated amendment after amendment intended to make it easier for voters to cast ballots, Democrats suggested Republicans primarily were interested in suppressing votes of minority Texans — who usually lean Democratic.

“It’s all about shaping the voter pool to benefit the Republican Party,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.

Representative Anchia also pointed out that if rampant in-person voter impersonation fraud was occurring, they must be voting Republican since the Republicans were the ones that benefitted from the outcome of the election last year!

:kick:

[sonias]

4. Voter ID Passes House After Long, Emotional Debate

Texas Tribune 3/23/11
Voter ID Passes House After Long, Emotional Debate

(snip)
Republicans argued, as they have through years of working to pass the measure, that requiring photo identification is necessary to stop voter fraud, to restore integrity at the ballot box and to increase voter confidence and turnout. Democrats countered that voter fraud at the polling place is a myth, and that if it occurs at all, it is through mail-in ballots, a problem the bill would do nothing to address. Instead, they said, requiring photo ID would disenfranchise thousands of voters, including the elderly, minorities and students.

(snip)
But most of the Democrats’ other attempts to broaden the types of identification voters could use to cast ballots and to create exemptions for special cases were summarily rejected.

Republicans had their own amendments, including one by Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, which eliminated a provision exempting seniors 70 or older from the requirements.

In a rare move, the Democrats also challenged the constitutionality of the bill. They pointed to a section in the bill that would allow Texans to receive IDs free of charge. The Democrats asserted that the free ID provision would strip as much as $14 million from the Texas Mobility Fund. The account is funded largely with fees that DPS collects for issuing IDs. A point of order challenging the bill on those grounds was overruled. During the final stages of the debate, about nine hours after it began, state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, offered an amendment that would prevent the bill from taking effect unless the state comptroller certified the fund would not be affected. It also failed.

:(

[white cloud]

5. Criminals have taken over this state

these pigs are about to turn over the feeder.

Poll tax was ruled unconstitutional year ago

[sonias]

6. Indeed they have

Now if we could only get the "majority" of the people to vote. This is what happens when you don't think your vote matters. It does because one side is always looking to step on the corpses of others to claw their way to the top. :(

[onestepforward]

11. There may be an answer to this.

Voting by mail. In Oregon, 87% voted and they do it all by mail. It would also leave a paper trail. I'm just quessing, but I think it would be cost-effective too.

[sonias]

12. Voting by mail is good

Oregon does save money this way. And they also have a great voter education system. There is an entire voter packet that goes out to registered voters on the candidates and the issues - goes along with the ballot.

The difference between Oregon and Texas policy on voting is that Oregon wants their voters to vote. Texas does not.

Even on the basis of saving money Texas would never go for this. The party in power would never give up their control of elections because they are winning. They kept shooting down affidavit bypass amendments to the photo ID bill, which essentially does a signature match. This is exactly the way mail in ballots work in Texas too. But even though it's good enough for mail in ballots now, voters could not be trusted to sign the oath in person at a polling location. :eyes:

This is an old article but it's a good write up of how it works and the history of Oregon's vote by mail program

American Prospect 4/13/2006
The Oregon Voting Revolution
How a vote-by-mail experiment transformed the democratic process.

(snip)
New Rituals of Democracy

Today, it's hard to see what the fuss was all about. In late April this year, Oregon's 36 counties will mail more than two million ballots for the May 16 primary with little controversy, little expectation of fraud, and a high level of acceptance by the public. A 2003 poll by the University of Oregon showed 81 percent of Oregonians preferred mailing their ballot to going to a polling place.

Other states may struggle with multiple methods of voting, doubts about software, and uncertainty over accuracy and recounts, but Oregon has one system and only one system of casting ballots and it leaves a paper trial. Vote by mail has become a routine part of Oregon's political landscape. But it wasn't easy getting there.

Vote by mail, first of all, is nothing more than an absentee ballot sent to everyone. County elections officers mail out packets about three weeks before Election Day. Voters must return their ballot by mail or drop it off by 8 p.m. on Election Day. State officials say it saves money, increases turnout, and makes voting easier for the elderly, busy parents, or anyone who has trouble getting to the polls. Opponents, though, see increased opportunities for fraud and lament losing the ceremony of going to the neighborhood polling place.

[onestepforward]

14. Thanks for the information.

Like most good ideas, it sounds like it will not be coming here any time soon. We should try to change that some time. I'd love to see 80% or more of Texans voting.

[They_Live]

7. What I find interesting

Is that the state has a scan of my thumbprint (required the last time I renewed my driver's license), so why would I need an I.D. when they could just scan my thumb? It's stupid. At any rate, even though I have a driver's license, I'll make sure the state provides me with another "free" I.D. to use only when I vote.

[They_Live]

8. If they're worried about voter fraud

shouldn't they get rid of the electronic voting machines? Oops, silly logic creeping in to my thought patterns again.

[sonias]

10. I'm with you

Electronic voting - paperless electronic voting is a much better opportunity for wholesale voter fraud over in person voter impersonation. Stealing the whole election versus one vote at a time fraud/theft.

But it's never been about the "integrity" of the election - that's just their talking point lie. It's been about making sure certain classes of voters (poor and minority and now students) have a harder time voting. Because those people vote for Democrats.

:kick:

[ceile]

9. A couple of sayings come to mind...

"robbing Peter to pay Paul"
"cutting your nose off to spite your face"

Re: giving away free IDs at the expense of the mobility fund...
We will never have to pay for a DL again- just tell DPS you want to vote..so stupid.

[thanks_imjustlurking]

13. Yet again,

an issue that can be made to sound simple from their stupid point of view, while it is complicated to explain why it is a bad idea. So people just listen to the sound bites and go rah rah. Ugh.