Let's get all those 200+ nominations by President Obama confirmed!

... historical levels of obstructionism.

They rarely try to bring the public's attention to the matter, and when they do they do so weakly and ineffectually.

To me it's an indictment on the President, Reid, Pelosi and Wasserman-Schultz.

That's the GOP's biggest weakness they refuse to exploit effectively - especially in the US Senate.

You can not vote or get a "free" id without paying for the documents needed for such "free" id

I won't argue that the legislators intended to silence the minority vote; that seems clear enough. but my republican friends seem to think that the law is in good faith.

my impression is that they think illegal aliens are voting and influencing the outcomes of elections.

If their agenda were as popular as they say it is, they would be trying to make it easier to vote. In their heads, they justify the racist behavior because they are trying to protect the "integrity" of the process (you know, keeping people from voting multiple times, despite barely a peep of evidence that this happens).

So how do they do this? They make it difficult for poor and minority folks to vote. Why the poor and minorities? Because (and here is where the racism resides) it's a matter of fact in their minds that the poor black and brown folks are more inclined to cheat than white wealthy people.

When someone calls another person an ignorant racist, they are not saying the racist is unlearned. They are saying the bigot is so fucking stupid he or she is incapable of even realizing they are a racist.

where criteria to obtain the Voter ID for those who had no other state-defined "acceptable" form of photo ID, required obtaining a certified copy of their birth certificate, which had a cost associated (i.e., anyone born in the state of PA could get copies, but for a fee). When this was brought out in state court, the state's representative who was testifying before the court when this cost issue was brought up during the questioning, literally announced while testifying, that the state would now waive the fee...

The 24th Amendment of the Constitution states -

And the 15th Amendment states -



The 19th Amendment of the Constitution states -



The 26th Amendment states -



The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was needed to essentially invalidate Sect. 2 of the 14th Amendment, which has a loophole not really addressed in the subsequent amendments (i.e., it mentions punitive actions if a state did disenfranchise adult male residents, which apparently acknowledged that a state could still disenfranchise).

Basically, those arguing in court against the imposition of the Voter IDs have invoked these other amendments by showing why certain communities (who were covered under those other amendments) would be negatively impacted (minority voters - 15th amendment & certain younger voters - 26th amendment).

It's not just younger voters 18 and up who are protected against age discrimination in voting. Seniors are, too, and they too are targets of unconstitutional photo ID laws.

They are more vulnerable to these types of laws as many cases were highlighted about elderly voters denied due to lack of a driver's license and inability to obtain birth certificates to prove residency/citizenship (where many were born at home and the records not properly recorded).

Rev. Al highlighted several and in fact, the main case used to battle the law here in PA involved then 93-year old Viviette Applewhite.

I'll never forget CNBC's Jim Cramer whining about his father's potential disenfranchisement due to the PA Voter ID law. See... when it impacts non-minorities, all of a sudden it becomes an issue. The law was struck down multiple times at various levels of our state courts and after that last time, the Corbett administration finally relented and declined to appeal it yet again to the state Supreme Court.

Senators Kirk Watson and Wendy Davis and a number of state house members proposed 104 amendments to make the law less unfair and these amendments were all rejected because the GOP wanted the law to be unfair. The court found that there was an intent to discriminate against Hispanic and African American voters as part of the law. Any republican who claims that the law was done in good faith is ignorant of the facts.

The free ids are very hard to get. There were going to be a nightmare with voters being disenfranchised.

voter registration closed a couple of days ago.

Early voting starts Oct. 20 and the issue needs to resolved by then. I will pull the article later but Chad Dunn and G. Herbert two of the trial attorneys for the good guys) both think that it is possible to get rulings from the 5th Circuit and the SCOTUS during the next ten days. It will be tight but the are good reasons why the injunction should be left in place to prevent people from losing their right to vote. During closing arguments, the trial court asked when early voting started and her ruling was designed to give some time for both the SCOTUS and the 5th Circuit to rule. It will be tight but there should be time.

The concept is that the trial court made a great case against the Texas law and that Roberts and Kennedy will want to defer this to after the election. Kennedy and Roberts both voted to enjoin the Wisconsin voter id law and the same logic applies to this case.

I was worried that some people might not have registered in the first place, out of discouragement.

anyhow, how can you provide a photo id if you're voting by mail?

Kansas, Ark and Wisconsin have this in their laws but Texas is okay. One of the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) main ways to protect against SB14 is to encourage people to vote by mail. The Texas Democratic Party has an app on its website to let you print a vote by mail application. See http://votebymail.txdemocrats.org/ Juanita Jean raised the money to pay for the programing for this app.

As for not registering voters, both Battleground and the TDP have been very active registering voters. Voter registrations are up in Texas due to these efforts.

Application for a Ballot by Mail

To be eligible to vote early by mail in Texas, you must:
•be 65 years or older;
•be disabled;
•be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance; or
•be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqabbm.shtml

The voter id law's disability exemption is very strict and requires a 50% or higher rating by social security or the VA. The disability exemption for voting by mail has no real standards and the voter gets to make the determination if they consider themselves disabled. The application on the Texas Democratic Party website has a blank to check if the voter considers themselves disabled. The determination by the voter as to their disability status is not subject to challenge. Again, there is no legal definition in the election code for disability for voting by mail purposes and the voter gets to make the determination.

The TDP has sent out vote by mail applications to all hard democrats who over 65 years old. We are getting a great response to these mailings. Normally, the GOP leads in early voting by mail by a large percentage and the Democrats have to make up that difference with in person voting. We can track when ballots are issued to voters and when they are returned to the election office and use this information to tailor the GOTV efforts to people who have not voted or who has not turned in their mail in ballot

The use of voting by mail helps with one group of voters hit hard by the voter id law, which is the older voters. The opinion in the Texas voter id case describes this as a poor substitute for voting in person but it is the best that we can do. The TDP is planning on voter id law being in effect for the November election just to be on the safe side. I would love to see the injunction be upheld but the 5th Cir. is full on crazy GOP right wing extremists like Edith Jones.

The application on the Texas Democratic Party website has a blank to check if the voter considers themselves disabled. The determination by the voter as to their disability status is not subject to challenge. Again, there is no legal definition in the election code for disability for voting by mail purposes and the voter gets to make the determination.

edited- can't find the application link on the Tx Democratic Party website (needs to be easier for visitors to find?)
http://www.txdemocrats.org/

http://votebymail.txdemocrats.org/ I will pass on your comments about the difficulty of finding this link. I knew where to find it because I gave money to help to get it to work.

but the officials implementing the poll tax know exactly what they are doing

Along with Wisconsin's turn of events, this news from Texas is also welcome.

K&R

Defeat all Koch addicts!

The Texas voter id law was based on an ALEC law

Finally, some excellent news!

Hey Texas Minorities, Greg Abbott and the Republicans don't want you to vote, what are you going to do about it?

Basically, the message is that Greg Abbott and the GOP does not want Hispanics to vote. This ruling will help make that message more relevant.

going to be bigots, and Republicans know they lose when citizens are allowed to vote.

See http://electionlawblog.org/?p=66648