Looming Republican blow-up over voter ID in the Texas House?

[sonias]

AAS Postcards blog 4/28/09
Looming Republican blow-up over voter ID in the Texas House?

By W. Gardner Selby | Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 05:23 PM

Could be you can blame this one on a reporter (me) because I’m not on the floor of the Texas House; I’ve been focused on Vice President Biden’s Austin visit today when it looks like I’d have benefited from trolling among legislators about the simmering voter ID fight.

My point: From my vantage point away from the pink dome, I’m hearing from Capitol sources that Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, privately told GOP colleagues today he’d reached closure on his intended-to-be-a-compromise version of voter ID legislation and might even issue an afternoon press release saying so.

To which, some Republicans reportedly reacted: "Whoa, Nelly (or Toddy)."

Their beef: They’d prefer not to see Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Elections, running out a softened-up approach that they don’t think meets the intended ID mandate.

And Representative Aaron Pena has posted on his blog that the Elections Committee will vote on photo ID on Thursday according to the Texas Observer Floor pass blog.

And so it begins.

:eyes:

Sonia

[tbyg52]

1. Does this mean they're gonna fight about it until the session runs out?

That'd be nice.

[sonias]

2. Well I hope the Rs fight among themselves for sure

That way it will be too late this year for them to pass anything. :)

Seriously though, you think they would focus on something more important like making sure Health and Human Services and local hospitals have the resources they need to combat the swine flu.

Everything is so underfunded that it wouldn't take much of an outbreak to overwhelm our resources.


Sonia

[tbyg52]

5. Yeah, I was looking at the glass half full.

I *don't* want them to pass Voter ID, but I *do* wish they'd do something useful.

[sonias]

3. Rep. Smith’s disputes any GOP blow-up

AAS Postcards blog 4/28
Rep. Smith’s voter ID revisions surfacing Wednesday; he disputes any GOP blow-up

By W. Gardner Selby | Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 05:44 PM

I blogged earlier a speculation on House Republicans possibly blowing up over Rep. Todd Smith running with his version of voter ID legislation. Smith, R-Euless, chairman of the House Committee on Elections, just called to say fuhgedaboudit.

Smith confirmed, though, that he plans to unveil his long-awaited rewrite of the Senate-approved voter ID legislation on Wednesday in hopes of passing it out of the elections committee this week.

Smith declined to share details of his version until, he said, he has a chance to run them by committee members. But he said today’s reactions from Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, and 50 other Republicans were perfectly appropriate efforts to frame the ID issue for their respective constituents back home.

Sonia

[sonias]

4. Two more wrinkles in revised House voter ID measure

AAS Postcards blog 4/29/09
Two more wrinkles in revised House voter ID measure

Rep. Todd Smith’s substitute version of voter ID legislation includes at least two notable wrinkles beyond not imposing the requirements until 2013:

—Smith envisions any voter who doesn’t completely fulfill the ID requirements getting to cast a ballot that would be counted later than regular ballots, if their signature at the polling place matches their signature on the voter’s voter registration application or another public record in the possession of their county’s voter registrar.

A twist: Smith’s rewrite leaves the verification of signatures to local signature verification committees consisting of five voters or more, chosen on nomination by the local Democratic and Republican county chairs. Each board is to be chaired by a nominee from the party whose gubernatorial candidate drew the most local votes in the latest governor’s election. The committees would be appointed by the early voting ballot board, which I suspect exists now in each county.

(snip)
Forecast: Smith makes a move to get his measure through his committee as soon as Thursday. Succeeding there, he brings his approach to the House floor by next week or the week after; a fierce debate will ensue.

Oh and by the way the Republican party put out a press release yesterday that says they won't support any bill that does not have this:

Our principles concerning what the bill must contain are clear, this bill must:

1. Ensure a valid photo identification is needed to vote
2. Take effect at the next possible uniform election date
3. Be free of any registration requirements such as same day voter registration that dilutes the intent of the bill, which is ensuring fair and accurate elections.
4. Increase criminal penalties for voter fraud and registration

So that means hopefully enough people on both sides will hate the bill and kill it, right?
Ready, aim, fire!

Sonia