Federal Court blocks Texas Voter ID law: Calling it a "Poll Tax"

Muse, you are on the wrong side of this argument. There is no reason that someone that SHOULD be allowed to vote can't produce an ID. We require it to drive, to bank, to buy alcohol. You are just WRONG.

I find your blind loyalty to your liberal agenda annoying. I WANT to be able to take you seriously, but come on...you can't not require ID to freaking vote my brother. Just admit you are wrong this time, lol.

a reply to: muse7

Amazing considering that the State went to great length that shatters any notion it would impede anyone.

Texas Election ID Card

Im light of this, I have to ask the Op and others here...who was being denied.

Save laws via the Voting Rights Act and a few amendments, States via the Ninth and Tenth Amendments have plenary power to set their own rules...withstanding current law of course.

It will be appealed and I believe overturned.



Eta: how can it be a poll tax when no tax or exchange of money is needed (except for documents for verification are required) to aquire the necessary means to obtain the EIC?

Gonna find the ruling to see what logic this judge made the rulling on.

a reply to: Bassago

You still need a ID to register right ?
Or are you under the impression that illegals just go to voting booths and hope the name they choose to use is on the list?
And try and compare apples to apples here, beer and pseudo are not in the constitution, voting is.

Also, do we have concrete proof that illegals are out there voting?

With the privatization of electronic voting machines in American elections and a surge in the secret nature of our voting system, voters are most likely just participating in a rigged game, with a stacked deck.

The State should go ahead anyway since its not a Federal matter and Obama ignores courts apparently. Its time to just do the right thing.

These judges that block voter id laws really piss me off. It is a simple concept, "prove who you are". Practically everyone in America has a form of ID, that is accepted. It is a drivers license, or a state ID card for those that do not drive. How can having those forms of ID be a burden to show before you vote? You also have to register to vote. That requires information sent to Registrars Office, who in turn will send you a voter ID card. It is a simple concept to "prove who you are". I for one think the whole idea of a burden to the people is asinine. States that require voter ID are doing the right thing. It stops voter fraud and any issues that may come up about if a person is qualified to vote.

a reply to: muse7

Just a quick question. Is all of Canada racist? They have voter identification laws:

(1) Show one original piece of identification with photo, name and address like a driver's license or a health card. It must be issued by a government agency.

(2) Show two original pieces of authorized identification. Both pieces must have a name and one must also have an address. Examples: student ID card, birth certificate, public transportation card, utility bill, bank/credit card statement, etc.

(3) Take an oath and have an elector who knows the voter vouch for them (both of which will be required to make a sworn statement). This person must have authorized identification and their name must appear on the list of electors in the same polling division as the voter. This person can only vouch for one person and the person who is vouched for cannot vouch for another elector.

originally posted by: Cuervo

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: muse7

Great!

When are fees for purchasing/licensing a firearm going to be abolished?

I hope you aren't implying that you vote with your gun.

Just asking why a financial burden, a tax, is being placed on a Constitutional right.

originally posted by: Cuervo

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: muse7

Great!

When are fees for purchasing/licensing a firearm going to be abolished?

I hope you aren't implying that you vote with your gun.

That's scheduled around 2026 given the current path our country is taking.

Texas voters must show a photo ID to vote in elections in Texas, unless you are exempt (see “Exemptions” below).

If you do not have any of the following acceptable forms of ID, beginning June 26, 2013, you may apply for an Election Identification Certificate (EIC) at no charge.

www.txdps.state.tx.us...

It's BS. Since when is free a charge, tax, cost, blah, blah...

a reply to: muse7


Open boarders, no ID to vote........what do you think is going on there?

We are in some trouble in this country folks.

You are ALL looking at this wrong!

It's not the cost of valid ID that is a burden to apparently only Democrats...It's the cost of ALL of the fake ones that they would need to maintain there voting status quo!

There is only one reason folks would not want to register to vote but then want to vote anyway.


There is only one sort of politician that would encourage voting without proper registration.

originally posted by: Ceeker63It stops voter fraud and any issues that may come up about if a person is qualified to vote.

Well....It would stop identification issues, regarding fraud. But there are many more issues displayed, that strain even the most tolerant of folks, regarding how qualified voters are, these days!

Wait, wait...

People STILL vote?!?!?

a reply to: Ameilia

Apparently she voted like eight times.

No. She is charged with 8 counts of voting illegally - apparently in different elections. The charges do not indicate that she voted more than once in any one election.

Source : New Haven Register

Ayala allegedly voted in various Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee elections, a municipal primary election and a state primary election between 2009 and 2012 in districts inconsistent with the location of her residence, according to the release. She is also accused of voting in the Bridgeport state general election in 2012 in a district where she didn’t live.

If she was required to present ID, would she have gotten away with voting eight times? I think not.

Of course she would have gotten away with it. There is no possible way that any type of ID could have prevented her voting in an election for which she was registered. She was not pretending to be someone else, she was pretending to be an eligible voter in elections where she was not actually eligible.

The 'fraud' involved claiming that she was entitled to vote in the various elections - in other words, she was registered improperly. Polling station voter lists are prepared from the voter registration records (duh). She voted in the place where she was registered - she just wasn't entitled to be registered there.

Edit: And furthermore: SHE WAS CAUGHT WASN'T SHE? No onerous ID required - she was caught!

By the way, the Western Journalism blog is not a very reliable source for 'unbiased' commentary.

Texas has a long and strong reputation for disenfranchising its minority voters:

Since 1895, Texas has done all they can to limit the electorate to wealthier, white people. After Reconstruction, they had All-White Primary Elections, then said that the political parties could choose the voters, thus disenfranchising minorities. They had Literacy and “Secret Ballot” Restrictions until 1970. They had actual Poll Taxes until 1966, disenfranchising minorities once again. So, they tried having people re-register every time they voted and purging the entire electorate. This went on until 1982. Then they tried disenfranchising the youth with a law saying it was necessary to own land to vote until 1979. They have been reducing early voting hours, changing voting laws without clearance, rejecting registrations (without notifying the voter), limiting the number of new registrations and gerrymandering their districts along racial lines up to THIS YEAR! ALL OF THESE moves designed to limit minority voters have been struck down by courts. Yet Texas still pushes for their goal: to limit poor, non-white and young voters from voting. It's always been their purpose and has had the desired outcome until the Feds came in and made them stop.

This history describes not only a penchant for discrimination in Texas with respect to voting, but it exhibits a recalcitrance that has persisted over generations despite the repeated intervention of the federal government and its courts on behalf of minority citizens.

In each instance, the Texas Legislature relied on the justification that its discriminatory measures were necessary to combat voter fraud. In some instances, there were admissions that the legislature did not want minorities voting.
...
This history of discrimination has permeated all aspects of life in Texas. Dr. Burton detailed the racial disparities in education, employment, housing, and transportation, which are the natural result of long and systematic racial discrimination. As a result, Hispanics and African-Americans make up a disproportionate number of people living in poverty, and thus have little real choice when it comes to spending money on anything that is not a necessity.

Minorities continue to have to overcome fear and intimidation when they vote. Reverend Johnson testified that there are still Anglos at the polls who demand that minority voters identify themselves, telling them that if they have ever gone to jail, they will go to prison if they vote. Additionally, there are poll watchers who dress in law enforcement-style clothing for an intimidating effect

THAT'S why this voter ID law was blocked. There's noting wrong with making sure a person is a citizen, but they have already done that by registering. Forcing people to prove identification at the polls, when they have already proven who they are to register, places undue burden on citizens.

Texas Decision

Once again, the question is reduced to the absurd by rabid right-wingers ...

1. There is not now and never has been despite decades of desperate Republican searching for it any significant "voter fraud" in this country that would be rectified with a Voter ID. This is and has been a solution looking for a problem.

2. Just as many or more Republicans have been charged with various forms of election fraud ... which is of course not addressed in any way by Voter ID.

These are simple incontrovertible facts that have been demonstrated time after time.

/shrug

I wish everyone would take race out of this. Requiring a photo ID in order to vote is an unconstitutional poll tax (unless the ID cards are given for free and are readily available throughout every community across the country).

I also wish people would quit using false equivalents like hunting licenses, gun permits, etc. Nobody asks you for any of that when you go to vote, so those license fees are not a poll tax.

I understand that many of you would love to trim a little fat off the constitution to suit your wants and needs; but there is a process for that as laid out in the Constitution. What we have been seeing across the country is that some states are trying to subvert the Constitutional requirements with voter ID laws. EVERYONE should be clamoring against these draconian attempts to deny people the right to vote. If you do not, then you obviously are not a champion of the US Constitution; despite your every attempt to claim that you are.

originally posted by: LeatherNLace
I wish everyone would take race out of this.

I totally agree with your post, but it's hard to take race out of it when race is CLEARLY the main impetus for these laws in Texas, and has been since slaves were freed.