Texas Voter ID – A Game Changing Reversal

*NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice estimates that the repeal of Voter ID laws in Texas and Wisconsin could help almost one million voters. Henry Flores tell us why the repeals were good for Latino, black, women and young voters. VL

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

Last week a national pundit dared to declare that Hispanics would not turn Texas blue anytime soon. And, I responded as to his state of lucidity. But there is more to a dismissive retort behind the criticism of his opinion. One of the reasons that the pundit claimed that Texas would not turn blue any time soon is due to the corruption in the Texas election system that is being protected by Gregg Abbott the current state Attorney General. The Attorney General’s defense of corruption has been on display as his minions argued the constitutionality of the Texas Voter ID Law.

Texas Voter ID

The Texas Voter ID Law, passed as Senate Bill 14 during the 2011 state legislative system, is the most stringent law of its kind in the United States and it was passed with the principle intent of preventing the votes of groups who would most likely not support Republican candidates in the General Elections. Senate Bill 14 has been ruled unconstitutional twice – yes I said twice – once by a three judge panel in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and then again this past week by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos, Southern District of Texas sitting in Corpus Christi. This past Friday, October 10, 2014, Attorney General Abbott requested a clarification from Judge Ramos as to whether the law could be enforced during the forthcoming General Election. Judge Ramos issued a final order for Texas to immediately drop enforcement of the Voter ID Law. Of course, Mr. Abbott will make an emergency appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which may or may not grant a hearing this close to the elections given Judge Ramos’ findings and the fact that the Supreme Court has just overturned the Wisconsin Voter ID Law which was not as restrictive as Texas’s.

How Restrictive is the Texas Voter ID Law?

Senate Bill 14 states that Texas registered voters cannot cast a ballot without presenting “valid” photo identification together with their registration card. The “valid” identification must be one issued only by the state, a United States Passport, a right to carry a concealed hand gun identification card, a United States military identification card, or state driver’s license. Of course, the name on the identification has to exactly match that on the voter registration card which presents a problem for many married women. The law excluded public university identification cards as well as state issued employment identification cards. Although the state argued that the voter identification cards were “free” many individuals who did not have approved identifications had to apply for the supporting documents which proved “cost-prohibitive” for many low-income folks. Both the Federal three-judge panel as well as Judge Ramos ruled that the cost of obtaining the supporting documents discriminated against low-income folks many of whom were African American and Latino. In the end both courts ruled that the law discriminated against the poor, women, younger and older voters, Latinos and Blacks estimating that this would affect upward of 600,000 voters.

Why Senate Bill 14?

Although the Attorney General argues that this law was designed to prevent fraud, to insure security of the ballot and return integrity to the election process he was far from telling the truth. In the first place, as several of the experts in the trial argued, why was the Attorney General arguing for the return of integrity to the ballot box if Republicans were winning all along? Secondly, the number of in-person voting fraud cases prosecuted by the state over the last ten years has been miniscule, maybe five?

Nope, if you take a close look at the House and Senate Journals on the days Senate Bill 14 was considered you will find that the Republican assembly members who sponsored the bill were concerned with the changing demographics of the state (too many Latinos), that they needed to prevent voters who would not support them from voting (Latinos, young, African Americans), and that they did not care whether the bill violated federal law or the Voting Rights Act. Frankly, some of the dialogue on those days was “down right racist” and insulting. How Latinos or African Americans, or poor people, or students, or women can support a party that tolerates such horrible and hateful language and thought is beyond me.

In the end the Republican Party operatives, this includes Greg Abbott, don’t want Latinos to vote in large numbers because they know that to allow open and free elections in the state will insure that the state turns blue sooner than they think.

Henry Flores, PhD, is a Distinguished University Research Professor, Institute of Public Administration and Public Service; Director, Masters in Public Administration (MPA); Professor of International Relations and Political Science at St. Mary’s University.

[Photo by Victoria Pickering/Flickr]

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