Manic Suppression (Anti-voter ID article from Paul Burka)

[last_texas_dem]

I enjoy Burka's political writing, even if he usually tends towards centrism (and used to be a bit of a Bush lover...). It is good to see him opposing voter ID in no uncertain terms, and for the strongest reason possible: it is a solution in search of a problem.

Manic Suppression
Voter ID is a terrible idea: bad for democracy and mean-spirited to boot. Let's hope it doesn't become law in Texas.

>>>>THE MOST CONTENTIOUS, most partisan issue in Texas politics at the moment isn’t the economy, as sluggish as it seems to be. Nor is it whether the state should accept federal stimulus funds—although the debate produced the memorable comment, by Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business, that expanding unemployment benefits for laid-off workers was like giving crack cocaine to an addict. (“It’s like a drug dealer,” Hammond said. “The dealer gives you your first hit for free to get you hooked, and then you are addicted.”) It’s not even the proposal, pushed by Governor Rick Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, that a woman seeking an abortion be forced to view an ultrasound of her fetus.

It’s voter ID. Nothing defines the differences between the two political parties as sharply as their respective views over the integrity of the electoral process. Republicans are absolutely convinced that Democrats try to steal elections through voter fraud; Democrats believe with equal certainty that Republicans try to manipulate elections by suppressing minority turnout. Yet voter ID is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem. There are two things wrong with laws that require voters to produce a picture ID in order to be able to cast a ballot: no credible evidence that voter fraud is widespread and plenty of credible evidence that such a law will reduce minority turnout by about 3 percent. That’s a lot of votes.

Granted, the argument in favor of voter ID is hard to refute: You have to prove your identity when you cash a check or get on an airplane or pick up a will-call ticket to a ball game; why shouldn’t you have to prove your identity when you participate in the most basic ritual of democracy? The erosion of confidence in the election system, which began with the Florida recount, in 2000, adds to the public support for voter ID laws. A Rasmussen Reports poll taken two weeks before the 2008 election found that 73 percent of Minnesota voters favored a photo ID requirement and only 20 percent opposed it; the margin was even wider in Iowa, 80 percent in favor to 13 percent opposed. Obviously these margins include the support of many Democrats as well as Republicans.

To make matters more difficult for Democrats who hope to defeat voter ID in Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a photo ID law in Indiana last year. The opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, the longest-serving liberal on the court, said that “evenhanded restrictions that protect the integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself” are not invidious and that the statute did not impose “excessively burdensome requirements” on any class of voters.>>>>

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2009-04-01/btl.php

[sonias]

1. Burka's post is pretty good for the most part

It's a tough battle. A lot of people don't understand the group of people who live without photo ID. It is totally inconceivable to them that someone can actually live without a photo ID. And granted that population may only be 10-15 percent of our total population, but is that any reason to disenfranchise them?

Here's one fact that thousands of people don't understand. You have to have ID to get photo ID. You don't just show up at the DPS office and say give me my free ID so I can vote.
DPS rules for getting a new driver's licence or ID card 2008

And it's not just going to be poor people who are going to have problems getting their original documents. Anyone who has gone through identity theft is going to have an issue too. I know a couple of people right now who have that problem. Your SS# gets frozen and you can't get a renewal ID.

Here's the kicker - the person who makes the call about whether you are allowed to vote or not based on the documents you provide will be a temporary poll worker who is paid $8/hour. That poll worker is overworked, under trained and may be partisan. Just wrap your head around that one.

Hope your appearance on your photo ID hasn't changed much since you took that photo. Did you have a beard, lose or gain weight, change your hair color. Is your name slightly different on your registration card than on your ID? Maybe your first name is not something you like so you registered with your middle or nickname.

The Republicans know exactly what they are doing with these voter suppression bills. All the more reason they want them to pass.

By the way the Elections Committee will be hearing the voter suppression bills on April 6th and April 7th in the Elections Committee. The 6th is for invited testimony and the 7th is for public testimony. The hearings will start at 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House session that day.

:kick:

Sonia