Today’s Fort Worth Star Telegram headline read “Voter ID Law Sent to Perry”. It should have read “Texas Poll Tax Law sent to Holder.” Last I heard, Texas was covered by Section 5 of the Voting Right’s Act, which requires that certain states with a pattern of discriminatory voting laws get DOJ clearance before passing new laws that may affect minority voting rights.
There is something called a “bail out” by which a jurisdiction can apply for exemption from federal oversight. Based on 1984 legislation, local governments with a ten year history of nondiscrimination qualify. The Bush DOJ attempted to help out its Good Ol’ Boys in the southern states by refusing to enforce the Voting Rights Act, leading some to claim that
no discriminatory behavior (snicker) occurred from 2001-2009. No doubt, Texas plans to ask for such an exemption. However, back in 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that part of Tom Delay’s redistricting was illegal….
The endorsement of the plan, which former House majority leader Tom DeLay crafted to tilt Texas's congressional delegation to the GOP, was not absolute. By a vote of 5 to 4, the court ruled that a sprawling West Texas district represented by Henry Bonilla (R) violates the Voting Rights Act because it diluted the voting power of Latinos.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062800660.html(Please, Washington Post, don’t sue me for quoting your fine newspaper)
So, for the record, the state of Texas’ clock on discrimination started ticking again in 2006 after a wrist slap by the SCOTUS. That means that Texas most definitely should qualify for automatic DOJ review when it attempts to change the voting rules (yet again), in a vote that was partisan to say the least.
The 98-46 vote adhered to party lines, with Republicans largely saying the measure is necessary to prevent voter fraud and Democrats countering that it could make it harder for the state's poor and minority voters to go to the polls.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/16/3079745/house-gives-final-approval-to.html(Please, Fort Worth Star Telegram, don’t sue me for quoting your fine newspaper).
I hope the appropriate alarms and bells are going off. For those who do not know what is discriminatory about requiring a driver’s license or other government photo ID in order to qualify to vote, consider this. How many residents of cities with mass transit do not drive? How many people who do not drive do not have a driver’s licenses? And how many urbanites vote for Democrats (while their rural and southern counterparts vote Republican)? This is not even counting those too old or poor or sick to have a car---or a driver’s license. And what do the old, sick and poor have in common? They are more likely to be members of a minority group.
Texas has tried to sweeten the deal by providing for cheap and easy photo IDs for the poor. (I will believe this when I see it.) However, the last I heard, any law which interferes with any group’s ability to cast its vote is against the law. And I think the poor, the disabled and the elderly have a pretty good case for discrimination here, unless Texas plans to send a representative to the home of each and every voter in order to supply IDs to those who do not have them. The disabled can’t just get in their pickups and drive to the nearest DMV to get their picture taken. Most of them don't have pickups to drive.
While the Obama/Holder DOJ has been soft on war criminals, they have been more thorough when it comes to election law. Just a few days ago, a bunch of Republicans were sentenced to jail for e-vote fraud in Kentucky.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8514In 2009, a spate of high-ranking election officials in Clay County, KY --- including the County Clerk, a Circuit Court Judge, the School Superintendent, a former Magistrate, and several polling place officials --- were arrested in a massive vote buying/selling and electronic vote-machine rigging conspiracy which netted the criminals millions of dollars over the past decade. The federal charges included the County Clerk and other members of the Board of Elections having intentionally falsified election reports to include inaccurate voting results when submitted to the state.
One Republican election official pleaded guilty after the arrest two years ago, and the other eight were found guilty and convicted last year in federal court. They were sentenced this past March to a total of more than 1,871 months in federal prison.
(Please, Bradblog, don’t….no. I don’t think Bradblog is in the extortion racket)
With E-vote fraud now a scary proposition for the average local GOPer, states like Texas are counting on Poll Taxes---aka Voter ID laws----to help them thwart the will of the electorate in 2012, when a whole bunch of Obama supporters are likely to go to the polls to give their man a big thumbs up----and help out Democrats at the bottom of the ballot.That is why Voter ID laws are so popular this year. Places like Missouri will be able to pass their laws and see them go into effect until the SCOTUS overturns them. (Oh please, Justice Kennedy, save us!)
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20090429_citron.html Places like Texas do not have that privilege, because of their long and on-going history of discriminatory voting laws. Texas may think it just passed a Poll Tax for the 21st Century, but Rick Perry is not the one who will decide. That honor goes to the Justice Department’s Voting Rights division. And I don’t see them voting to authorize a poll tax in Texas anytime soon.