Texas has issued only 340 voter ID cards this cycle
by Forrest Wilder
It’s another election season in Texas. Another year that we’re on track to maintain the nation’s most dismal voter turnout.
One difference this year is that voters are now required to present photo ID at the polls, the result of Republican-authored legislation ostensibly to deal with the diminishingly small number of voter fraud cases. It’s difficult to say what effect the voter ID requirement is having, though even some Republican state officials apparently knew that more than half a million registered Texas voters—disproportionately Hispanic and African American—lacked the credentials to cast ballots but didn’t bother to tell lawmakers.
One thing is certain: Very, very few Texans have gotten election identification certificates (EIC), the new state-issued form of photo ID for those who don’t have it—340 Texans, to be precise.
That’s less than two thousandths of a percent of Texas’ voting age population. That’s only a little more than one EIC for each of Texas’ 254 counties. And many counties haven’t had a single citizen obtain an EIC. Another way to slice the numbers: There are more licensed auctioneers (2,454) in Texas than there are people with EICs—more than seven times as many in fact. In Harris County, with more than 4.3 million people, a poverty rate of 18 percent and 70 percent people of color, there are 186 licensed auctioneers but just 21 EICs. There are more licenses for boxing judges in Lubbock County (4) than there are voters with EICs (3). There are more licensed elevator inspectors in Dallas County (35) than voters with EICs (28). And so on….
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Myrna Perez, deputy director of the voting rights project at the Brennan Center for Justice. “The information about the EIC has been dreadful. Nobody knows about it.”
more
http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-voter-id-cards-auctioneers/
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At what point do people finally get fed up with the status quo and do something about it?
When will people realize, that not voting is exactly what the oligarchs want? When?
...a concealed handgun permit, it is unlikely that any photo ID that they have will be a photo ID that will allow them to vote. For example, all student photo ID's are worthless for meeting the Texas voter photo ID law.
The following is a list of the ONLY acceptable photo ID's acceptable under the law that the gerrymandered Texas legislature passed:
Texas driver license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
Texas personal identification card issued by DPS
Texas concealed handgun license issued by DPS
United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph
United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph
United States passport
While it is possible for an elderly person who no longer drives, or others lacking one of the above, to obtain an acceptable personal ID from the DPS in the same manner that they would use to obtain a driver's license, the writers of this legislation fully knew that this would take a special effort, and that many would not understand that their photo ID that might be acceptable for all other purposes would not allow them to vote, and that, despite the fact that the law was addressing an imaginary problem, that it would result in a significant number, estimated at over 500,000, eligible voters who would be disqualified solely because of the lack of a Republican approved photo ID, and that these citizens would be primarily from groups which include higher numbers of Democratic voters.
And said lawmakers, including Dems, didn't bother to find out. 
Does Texas have an equivalent of our Legislative Analyst's Office?
