04.25.07
Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Voter IDiocy
Apparently Lt. Gov. Dewhurst favors the Voter IDiocy bill that passed the House earlier this week. But this quote from the today’s HChron article, Dewhurst backs voter ID bill, moving primary, is just wrong:
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Tuesday that he will try to win Senate approval of a controversial, partisan-charged bill to require Texans to show photo identification before being allowed to vote.
[…]
In an interview, Dewhurst said he believed the “huge majority” of Texans supported the voter ID legislation, which won final House approval on Tuesday over the opposition of Democratic lawmakers.
“Why isn’t it necessary to prove that you’re a U.S. citizen to vote in U.S. elections?” he asked.
First of all HB 218, which was referenced in the article as the “partisan-charged bill”, has nothing to do with proving your a U.S. citizen. But to answer the Lt. Gov. question, people already to have to prove they’re a U.S. citizen to vote. Let’s go back to yesterday’s post, Voter IDiocy - The Final Word, For Now, if you look at the voter registration application (.PDF), the first question asked is, Are you a United States Citizen? Hopefully the local officials will cross check that name to make sure that person is, indeed, a U.S. citizen before registering them to vote. If non-U.S. citizens are getting registered to vote, making them show their electric bill at the polling location won’t fix that.
Later in the article we find out why Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is making such ignorant statements:
The voter ID bill, which Republican sponsors say is important to guard against voter fraud, is strongly supported by conservative voters who dominate Republican primaries. Dewhurst is eying a race for governor in the 2010 GOP primary.
Yep, Texas Rush is breathing down his neck. The bottom line is that Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, with that quote, is trying to mesh the Voter ID bill with the “wing-nut” hysteria over illegal immigration. To say something like that the Lt. Gov. is also trying to infer that there is a major problem with non-citizens voting, and there’s not evidence of that. This needs to be said again, the voter IDiocy bill, as it passed the House, would do nothing different to stop voter fraud than is done today, that is if it existed. Now, with the Lt. Gov. mixing in these ignorant comments it just makes the situation worse.
bluesky said,
April 25, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I have questions about this issue. I am not sure if this falls into the area of ‘conspiracy theories’ or not, but I’ve been following all of the so-called “voter fraud” cases in relation to the US Attorney scandals, that were implemented through the Bush administration officials in D.C.
So, my question is, does Craddick, Dewhurst, Betty Brown or Phil King have any connections with anyone in Karl Rove’s office or anyone related to the administration? Are they getting any pressure to implement “voter fraud” legislation as part of the underlying “voter fraud” cases that Rove has talked about?
The coincidences of the brewing scandals in D.C. and the supposed problems of “voter fraud” that really do not exist and are actually ploys to decrease mostly Democratic voters, is just a little bit odd and makes me wonder if something bigger isn’t going on. After all, Bush, et al. are mostly from Texas and are still friends with many people here. It would not surprise me and if it is the case, it needs to get some publicity that this is going on. Is there a way to find out the answers to these questions? Thanks!
wcnews said,
April 25, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Very good questions and whether or not there’s any direct collusion between Rove and this Texas bunch is beside the point. There more than likely is but it would drive you crazy trying to prove it.
It’s no coincidence and it’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s just what “conservatives” do. I highly recommend this post from Rick Perlstein, Operation Eagle Eye, who wrote the consummate book on the origins of today’s conservative movement, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, which I also highly recommend. It’s just straight-up voter intimidation and making sure Democrats don’t vote and if they do that their votes don’t get counted. They figured out a long time ago that’s the only chance they have.
bluesky said,
April 26, 2007 at 9:17 am
wcnews,
Thanks for your response and recommendations for further reading! I will look into both of them.
I am sure the collusion between Rove and the Texas bunch would drive me crazy - it did over the redistricting thing! But, I just find it really strange that the US attorney responsible for handling the Delay case has changed several times over the past few year, resulting in no real progress in his conviction. And now, there’s the big push for taking care of “voter fraud”. This has got to be coming from somewhere. And will we let Rove and his bunch mess things up in Texas even further than they have?
According to the people following the US attorney’s firings, it’s the ones that have stayed and/or were promoted that may be more disconcerting than those that actually were fired. Is this one of those cases?
You all always have great information and I rely on you and others for the “real” information about what is going on in Austin and other places. Thanks for your work!