Republican Officials in Texas Knew Voter ID Law Would Disenfranchise 500,000 Before Bill's Passage

[babylonsister]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/26582-republican-officials-in-texas-knew-voter-id-law-would-disenfranchise-500000-before-bills-passage

Republican Officials in Texas Knew Voter ID Law Would Disenfranchise 500,000 Before Bill's Passage

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune

25 October 14



Republican state officials working to pass a voter photo ID law in 2011 knew that more than 500,000 of the state’s registered voters did not have the credentials needed to cast ballots under the new requirement. But they did not share that information with lawmakers rushing to pass the legislation.

Now that the bill is law, in-person voters must present one of seven specified forms of photo identification in order to have their votes counted.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi has found the law unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the state can leave it in place for the November election while appeals proceed.

The details about the number of voters affected emerged during the challenge to the law, and were included in the findings of U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos.

During the 2011 legislative struggle to pass the voter ID law, she wrote, Republican lawmakers asked the Texas secretary of state, who runs elections, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which maintains driver’s license information, for the number of registered voters who did not have state-issued photo identification.

The answer: at least a half-million.

snip//

The Republicans who wanted the law won in the Legislature, and the Democrats who did not want it won the first round in court. However, the Supreme Court left the law in place, apparently wanting to avoid any disruption in this year’s elections.

At the moment, that leaves a legal contradiction: The law is both unconstitutional and in force.

[Fred Sanders]

1. If it is in force it IS constitutional and can not now be overturned...some nice democracy you got

there.

Shame if anything were to happen to it.

[Gothmog]

2. The Texas GOP knew that the voter id law would take away the vote of minorities

[jwirr]

3. That was their goal.

[Scuba]

21. +1

[enough]

4. Good reporting by the Texas Tribune. If we had real media at the national level,

this would be a major story.

another snip from the story>

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, Democrat of Houston, testified in the federal case that he asked the secretary of state for the information and never received it. But not everyone was uninformed. Citing depositions from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Ann McGeehan, an elections official with the secretary of state at the time, the judge wrote, “Lt. Gov. Dewhurst was aware of the no-match list results showing 678,000 to 844,000 voters being potentially disenfranchised.”

snip>

[Voice for Peace]

5. I'd like to know what percentage of the world --

those with knowledge of American govt and politics --
what percentage can see plainly that Fox News and
the republican congress is evil lazy full of shit and
greedy liars?

[PADemD]

6. Since when is the Supreme Court against disrupting elections?

[shraby]

7. Illegal, unconstitutional, left in place and STILL is disrupting the election.

[Scarsdale]

8. Supreme?

They should be called the NOT-SO- Supreme Court

[lastlib]

15. For those disenfranchised, THIS LAW is disrupting the election!

when it prevents legitimate voters from voting, their vote is disrupted! As usual, the Roberts/Scalito Court is looking at it bass-ackwards.

[lobodons]

9. Invalidate the election

Seems Texas citizens unconstitutionally denied suffrage should be able to sue to invalidate the election results.

[mountain grammy]

12. It seems they should. This is pretty deliberate and blatant.

[lastlib]

16. (but guess who would ultimately rule on it!)

case dismissed--with extreme prejudice!

[blkmusclmachine]

10. "Voter ID" = Voter Suppression. It's doing EXACTLY what it was designed to do--keep minority voters

from voting!

[SoapBox]

11. It's criminal and immoral...

But those are two areas that Pukes and Baggers seem to excel in.

[mountain grammy]

13. And did the corrupt 5 know this when they let the law stand?

you bet they did. My hope is 500,000 of them are crazy teabaggers like my 91 year old father in law (died last year) who no longer had a driver's license. It would serve them right.

[cantbeserious]

14. Why Is Anyone Still Surprised By Anything Done By Republicans

eom

[Turbineguy]

17. Wasn't that the whole idea?

Disenfranchise those who might vote against you.

[malaise]

18. The Supreme Couort Justices should be impeached for this

and the local ReTHUG scumbags should be sent to prison

[indepat]

19. The Supremes, by leaving an unconstitutional law in effect until its illegal intent

can be realized, have given the Constitution the middle finger and, for good measure, an implied 'fuck you' to every American who does not subscribe their vile, twisted, ideology.

[JI7]

20. that would mean it is working as intended to