Voter ID-Texas has only issued 250 free IDs

[Gothmog]

The Texas voter suppression law/voter id law is a poll tax. You can not get a "free" id without paying for an official birth certificate or other court document. If you can take off work and go during weekday business hours, you can get a birth certificate for $3 but you have to go there in person and the birth certificate will have a legend stating that the birth certificate can only be used to get election identification certificate.

In a deposition in the voter id case it came out that the state of Texas has only issued 250 "free" ids. https://twitter.com/RyanPHaygood/status/464566717843537921/photo/1 The last official notice of the number of "free" ids issues was back in November and the number was a 120 or so. Between 650,00 to 1.2 million Texas voters need an id in order to vote. The State of Texas does not want these people to vote and that is why only 250 ids have been issued.

The Texas voter id law goes to trial in September and I am expecting that the judge may rule on the poll tax issue as well as the Section 2 claims. The rulings in the Wisconsin case and the opinion in the Penns. voter id case are both well written. The Arkansas voter id law was ruled invalid on state law grounds. The courts are realizing that voter id laws serve one purpose and one purpose only-to steal votes from Democrats.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. So it's working as planned.

I'm glad that at least some judges see these laws for what they are -- modern poll tax substitutes.

[Gothmog]

2. Yes, the law makes it almost impossible to get a "free" id

You have to pay a poll tax in order to vote in Texas. The Veasey plaintiffs have raised this issue in the Texas voter id lawsuit and I think that this claim has some merit.

The Wisconsin judge found that the Wisconsin law violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the constitutional issues but did not address the poll tax issue because he did not need to. I understand that the Section 2 case is an easier case to win but I really think that the Texas law is a poll tax.

There is some good case law on the poll tax issue Weinschenk v. State, 203 SW 3d 201 - Mo: Supreme Court 2006- The Missouri state Supreme Court held that a voter id law that required a birth certificate to vote was a poll tax http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16462019301480907426

Plaintiffs in this case, on the other hand, offered testimony of specific Missouri voters who will have to incur the costs associated with birth certificates and other documentation to acquire a photo ID and vote. Specifically, Plaintiff Weinschenk will have to pay $12 for her birth certificate; Plaintiff von Glahn, who was asked to pay $11 for his "free" non-driver's license required to vote under the statute, will have to pay another $20 for his birth certificate. Others, like Plaintiff Mullaney, may have to incur more substantial costs for additional documentation because their names have changed since their birth. Additionally, elections officials testified to the substantial number of other otherwise qualified Missouri voters who also must pay a fee in order to vote.

Based on this evidence, the trial court found that this cost was directly connected to Plaintiffs' exercise of the right to vote. The trial court also found that the citizens who currently lack the requisite photo ID are generally "the least equipped to bear the costs." For Missourians who live beneath the poverty line, the $15 they must pay in order to obtain their birth certificates and vote is $15 that they must subtract from their meager ability to feed, shelter, and clothe their families. The exercise of fundamental rights cannot be conditioned upon financial expense. Cf. Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 16-19 (1956) (holding that due process and equal protection require that indigent defendants are entitled to pursue appeals without payment of costs). In this case, Plaintiffs proved that these costs must be incurred for citizens who lack the SB 1014 mandated photo IDs to exercise their right to vote.

The tide is turning on these GOP voter suppression laws.