Senators to vote Monday on "emergency" voter I.D. bill

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The voter ID bill was one of two items declared an emergency Thursday by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, prompting some Democratic leaders in the Texas House to say only the budget should get priority status. Some said they will urge their members not to support a plan next week allowing early debate on bills Perry has identified as emergencies.

Late Thursday, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst notified senators that he would bring up voter ID on Monday, with Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, presiding over the Senate meeting as a committee of the whole. By doing so, it will allow the Senate to accelerate the process. Usually, a bill will go before a committee, which then takes testimony on the issue, followed by debate and then a committee vote taking it to the full Senate.

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Democrats have blocked Republican efforts in recent years to pass a voter ID bill. Republicans contend a more secure voting system is needed to make sure ineligible voters don't cast ballots. Democrats counter that a photo ID-based system would only make it harder for seniors and low-income Texans to vote.
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ThinkProgess 11/30/2010
Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners

Every week, the Tea Party Nation hosts a weekly radio program, calling itself a “home for conservatives.” Two weeks ago, Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips hosted the program and discussed changes that he felt should be made to voting rights in the United States. He explained that the founders of the country originally put “certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote.” He continued, “One of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners”

AAS 1/25/11
Remote areas penalized by voter ID?

Senate Democrats have fired two additional volleys against the GOP-supported voter ID bill being debated:

Remote areas will be penalized, and Texans who get their drivers’ licenses suspended may not be able to vote.

Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, said eight of the 23 counties in his sprawling West Texas legislative district have no Department of Public Safety office where they can get a state ID card to vote if they have no driver’s license.

More than 47,000 people live in those counties, he said.

He noted that to reach a DPS office, residents in Ozona will have to travel 163 miles to San Angelo. Folks in Sanderson must go 170 miles to Fort Stockton.

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Since the bill was exempted from the Senate's two-thirds rules, there is little doubt that Republicans have sufficient number of votes to pass the legislation despite concerted Democratic opposition. Even though the Democrats simply don't have the votes to stop Voter ID from passing, they a significant part of the day Tuesday pointing out potential problems with the legislation like:

- There aren't DPS offices located in most inner-city neighborhoods in Texas. For instance, in Houston, there are no DPS offices located inside of the I-610 loop.

- There are already significant wait times at most DPS offices and increasing the number of people who need a photo ID will only make the wait times longer. Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said that the average wait time in Harris County DPS offices exceeds two hours.

- There are 77 counties in Texas that currently don't have DPS offices where people could go to get a photo ID.

- Representatives from MALDEF and the NACCP testified that low income and minority populations in Texas are less likely to have the necessary documentation to obtain a photo ID.

- How many other DPS offices are going to be closed due to budget cuts? Where do those people go to?

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Washington Independent 1/25/11
Indiana prof: ‘Definitely a chance’ that DOJ would reject Texas voter photo ID law
Pitts urges Texas lawmakers to include provisions to study effects of legislation

An Indiana election law expert said Texas lawmakers do have reasons to be concerned that proposed voter photo identification legislation — authored by state Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) and based on Indiana law — may fail to meet standards under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

“There is definitely a chance that DOJ would deny preclearance to a photo ID law passed by the state of Texas,” said Michael Pitts, a professor at Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis.

During debate in the Texas Senate Tuesday, Democrats questioned whether Fraser’s Senate Bill 14 — which is based on Indiana’s law but differs in some ways — would pass muster under Section 5 of the VRA, which singles out some states (including Texas) and forces them to obtain approval from DOJ or a federal judicial panel before making changes that would affect elections. In defense of the bill, Fraser cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s upholding of the law in Indiana (which is not subject to Section 5) and the DOJ’s preclearance of a relatively weaker photo ID law in Georgia (which is under Section 5).

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) pointed out that SB14 does not allow a voter to use an expired drivers license to verify identity at the polls, while Indiana does allow a voter to use a drivers license for a period of up to nearly two years after the expiration date (if the license expired in the time period since the most recent general election). Student IDs are also accepted under Indiana law, but not under Fraser’s bill, said state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston).

The Texas Senate passed the controversial Voter ID bill by a vote of 19-11, after more than 40 amendments were proposed (mostly by Democrats) and almost six hours of debate.

Even though the outcome of the vote wasn't in doubt, Democrats launched a fierce campaign against the measure pointing out the measure's potential shortcomings which they said could prevent minority, elderly and more transient voters (such as college students) from participating in the process.

When the Senate passed its rules earlier in January, Republicans included an exemption for Voter ID legislation from the two-thirds rule, which demands a supermajority to pass the legislation. A simple majority was all the Republicans needed and a threshold they easily exceeded with 19 votes.

AUSTIN — While the Texas Senate put voter identification legislation on a fast track Monday, the House overwhelmingly rejected an effort to bypass the normal committee process so a bill could be approved without public testimony.
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Over on the House side of the Capitol, the chairman of the Texas Conservative Coalition, Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, apparently thought the fever to pass the bill would infect the House.

Christian offered an amendment to House rules to allow the House to consider the bill directly on the floor as a committee of the whole without taking public testimony.

"Do it now while we have the time," Christian told the House.

But Rep. Burt Solomon, R-Carrollton, who drafted the House rules resolution, told his colleagues that the House has met as a "committee of the whole" only to deal with impeachment proceedings in the 1970s and 1920s, and even those matters first passed through standing House committees.

Christian's effort was doomed when fellow conservative Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, questioned the lack of public testimony if the House takes up voter identification without public hearings.

Christian was voted down 130-13. Eighty-eight Republicans and 42 Democrats voted against Christian, while all those voting with him were Republicans.

Democrats thwarted Republican efforts in the past two legislative sessions to pass a bill requiring photographic proof of identity to vote. With Republicans holding a major legislative majority this year, however, the Democrats' only hope is to slow the bill's progress and make a record for a likely legal challenge once it becomes law.
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