01.26.08

Yesterday’s Voter ID Hearing – Nothing Has Changed – UPDATED

Posted in Around The State, Commentary, Elections, Right Wing Lies at 11:36 am by wcnews

After reading the traditional media accounts of yesterday’s Elections Committee hearing, the TO Blog seem to have gotten the sense of what happened the best.

MYSA, Experts at odds on voter ID policy.

HChron, Texas legislators begin new debate on voter identification.

DMN, ID views heat up voter fraud hearing.

AAS, Lawmakers ready for third battle over photo ID at polls.

But the Texas Observer has the best wrap-up, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, showing that nothing much has changed.

The hot tempers from the end of the last legislative session were just below the surface through most of today’s hearing, and it only took eight hours to draw them out. Benkiser finished her testimony with an emotional plea: “At the end of the day, whether you want to believe it or not, there is rampant voter fraud. I do get passionate about this issue, and I should, and every voter should.”

A few emotional exchanges have sprung up today as committee members try to keep witnesses from scoring too many points for the other side. As the meeting winds down now, the argument has cooled back off. Plenty of voter fraud cases have been aired most apparently having little to do with a photo ID requirement. The argument is more of the same, and even Rep. Rafael Anchia has grown tired of asking witnesses to see their photo ID or birth certificate.

Rep. Leo Berman has warmed to the suggestion of a voter ID bill with an option for signature verification instead of a photo ID, but otherwise it looks like next session, voter ID will be more of the same — only the outcome remains the big question.

Republicans have still failed to show any proof of widespread, or rampant, voter fraud. But at the end of the day all they have is their “belief” that voter fraud exists, no proof, and they will cling to that. And Democrats are not changing in their stance that if this is a solution in search of a problem. And that until the GOP can prove this is a problem there’s no reason to chance disenfranchising so many voters.

More and better Democrats is the only way to end this.

[UPDATE]: More from the TO blog on a possible compromise, .

Berman was surprisingly receptive not only toward the Mexican electoral system, but also toward a proposal for a photo ID law that would let voters without a driver’s license sign their name as proof of identity, instead.

Although Berman was receptive, Rep. Anchia kept everyone focused on the reality of the Lege.

Anchia worried about creating a double-standard for people who vote by mail-in ballot and about passing a voter ID bill in the House with a special exception for people without photo ID’s. The way these things play out, the exception could simply be stripped once the bill hits the Senate floor. “We’d need assurances from the Senate to ensure it’d come back without voter-suppression amendments,” he says.

And there are many other problems with our elections in Texas.

Today’s testimony painted a dreary picture of the effectiveness of Texas’ elections system, from the troubled statewide voter database to documented cases of voter fraud — through mail-in ballots and vote harvesting. If the 81st Legislature is going to tackle the state’s elections infrastructure, there’s plenty of room for improvement. How about a verifiable paper ballot, anyone? But the stakes are high if the Legislature’s solution does more harm than the system we’ve already got.

Stay tuned.

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