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

[onestepforward]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/7390453.html

-snip-
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.

-snip-

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.
-snip-

[sonias]

1. Yeah what a real crisis!

:sarcasm:

[Larry L. Burks]

2. Some thing not right here. Better check in to it

Vote???

[sonias]

5. They won't actually vote until Tuesday

But the whole Senate will vote on SB14 which is a photo ID bill. Perry and crew have made this an "emergency issue" to bypass the normal rules of how legislation can be heard. Normally the bill could not even be voted on for 60 days, but since it's an "emergency" it gets special treatment and can be heard right away under Perry's say so.

Yeah a whole load of crap!

And the bill that's being heard on Monday and Tuesday is the worst bill we have ever seen. As bad as Indiana bill which really should not fly in the South. Only photo IDs acceptable will be drivers license, passport and military ID that are current. No expired forms of photo ID and no non-Texas DL. So if you are an out of state student who didn't bother to get a Texas DL because well hell you weren't going to drive here - then too bad you don't get to vote in Texas. Better get your ass home to your state in November to vote.

It's really pathetic attempt to disenfranchise a ton of more eligible voters than last session. :mad:

[Melissa G]

7. Photo ID =Poll Tax

Poor people who don't have a current photo ID or who have moved since the last time they paid to get one. College students just trying to scrape by and eat and get through classes? Notice school photo ID's will not work. All the folks who ignore the news and be turned away at the polls because what they used last time will no longer work? What a great way to cut likely Dem voters. :eyes:

[robt6750]

18. +1000

[plumbob]

3. Yes, voter ID is definitely the #1 problem facing Texans!

Too dang many people voting!


Budget crisis? WHAT budget crisis?

[sonias]

4. Pay no attention to the deficit hole in the budget

"Look over there - those people of color are trying to vote....."

Yeah that's the ticket - distraction. The shell game.... :eyes:

[plumbob]

6. Next thing - some of 'em will claim they're citizens!

No telling what this could lead to if we don't nip it right in the bud!

[sonias]

8. It could lead to a healthy democracy

And the Rs can't stand that. There is even one nut job proposal - seriously, to have only property owning citizens be allowed to vote in the U.S.

I'm just saying these types are really scary in their puny thinking sometimes.

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”

What an a-hole! :mad:

[onestepforward]

9. Very scary.

Now is the time for the nuts to get what they want too.

Melissa G is correct. This is today's equivalent to a poll tax for the sole purpose of decreasing Democratic voters.

[sonias]

10. Remote areas penalized by voter ID?

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.

:wow:

[onestepforward]

12. A couple of other problems:

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2011/01/the_first_word_13.html

-snip-
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?

-snip-

[sonias]

13. Yep - big problems

But like the repukes care. That's the whole point - to disenfranchise voters. They want to make it hard for anyone who thinks driving or traveling by any means of transport - public or borrowed car etc difficult.

They could care less. :mad:

[sonias]

11. Indiana prof: ‘Definitely a chance’ that DOJ would reject Texas voter photo ID law

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).

By the way the bill did pass on first reading last night on strict party line vote 20 to 12. All Ds present and voting no.

[onestepforward]

14. Texas Senate Passes Voter I.D. 19 - 11

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/

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.

There is more information about the amendments at the link above. It looks like the Dems put up a fight, but we just don't have the numbers.

[sonias]

15. Nope I think only 3 amendments passed

But you're right the Ds fought the best they could. It was a no-win scenario. But at least this way the record is clear that the majority party forced this on the minority party. It is the suppressing will of the majority party. This should make for a clear cut case for the Obama DOJ to spank their ass on this putrid bill.

:spank:

Of course one of the amendments to pass. CHL means concealed handgun licence
18. Hinojosa - Accept CHL as a form of ID. Accepted by a vote of 30-0. :eyes:

And this one is very good/interesting.
32. Watson - Make the Ogden Amendment apply to the Voter ID bill. Motion passed by a vote of 30-0. Fraser says the feds will pick up most of the costs.

The Ogden Amendment means that any bill that is not fully funded can not take effect. Ogen is an R and this pertains to any budget matter. He's trying not to pass any unfunded mandates to counties. Anyhow Watson hopes/believes that the state won't put in the real money to implement this and that maybe EAC won't let them use Help American Vote Act (HAVA) funds to implement voter suppression. I hope he's right. We know the $2 million fiscal note on this bill is a joke. It should be $10 million or so.

:kick:

[onestepforward]

16. Good catch!

It looks like there might be a little bit of hope between the DOJ and Watson's amendment!

My reference to the amendments was only general information. :)

[ceile]

20. Interesting

Thanks for posting that.

[sonias]

17. Nick Anderson toon

:thumbsup:

[Melissa G]

19. LOL! I hope DOJ overturns this insanity!

God bless Watson for getting the Ogden amendment. It would be nice to hoist the repubs on their fiscal petard!

[white cloud]

21. LOL

That is a great cartoon!!!!!!
To bad it will probabaly happen

[sonias]

22. Free CHL for all!

I would love to see a bill propose that concealed handgun licenses be free.

Just saying. :shrug:

[Ezlivin]

23. Another obstacle placed in the path of a citizen

wishing to exercise his/her fundamental constitutional right.

But these conservatives would howl like banshees if they were asked to consider such a "burdensome" requirement for gun ownership.

Every gun regulation is an "obstacle" to the exercising of a fundamental constitutional right: The right to keep and bear arms. Oh, the outrage they'd show if you wished to add just one more regulation to gun ownership.

[onestepforward]

24. UPDATE: House slams brakes on voter ID measure

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7396116.html

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.
-snip-

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.
-snip-

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

25. Thanks for the updates!

[Gothmog]

26. Dems laying groundwork for DOJ to block voter ID Law

The Fort Bend Tejano Democrats and Sugar land Democratic Club had a nice workshop on immigration issues. State Rep. Ron Reynolds discussed the voter id law and the great job that Senator Kirk Watson and the Texas Democrats in the Texas Senate are doing in laying the groundwork to help the DOJ to block this law. Our Democratic Senators are using their time on the floor to make a good record that will help the DOJ block this bill.

Rep. Reynolds and the 48 other Democratic members of the state house are planning to make the same case when this bill comes up in the House.

The Democrats in the Texas Senate and House are out numbered but they are not giving up.

[onestepforward]

27. Wonderful news!

They are doing a great job and I'm very proud of them!

:patriot: