Ready or not, here comes Voter ID....
Regardless of your stance on voter fraud (Does it occur? Yes, Is it pandemic? No) What should trouble you about this is the lack of interest by either party in regards to increasing the number of legal votes.
You would think that this would be what the issue is all about: Making sure that the largest percentage of legal voters make their way to the ballot box while ensuring that the smallest amount of illegal voters do the same. The answer to the former is engaged, transparent government that listens to constituents and the utilization of same-day voter registration using instant background check technology. The answer to the latter is....voter ID coupled with strong immigration reform.
There's an argument to be made that the last point is a federal matter, which is fine. It also makes all of this talk about voter ID ridiculous. Given that Texas is looking down the barrel of an eighteen Billion dollar budget hole it also seems ridiculous to threaten the entire Lege session on a, relatively minor, voting issue.
During this session the Texas Lege has real priorities, challenges that are going to require the Republicans prove they can govern and put aside partisan issues?
The track record is not promising.
1 comment:
In all fairness... voting fraud is *not* just about those in the country in violation of the law presenting themselves at the ballot box. In many areas of the country (including some parts of Texas *cough* Starr County *cough*) there is an equally large problem with dead people seemingly coming out of their graves to cast ballots. In others (e.g. Louisiana) apparently some folks are bussed from poll... to poll... to poll.
A pandemic? Maybe not. But, given that the margin of victory in some races is very slim, the "dead man's vote" could easily sway an election (and was reported to have done so, in the 1960 Presidential race.)
I personally don't see why they can't ask for a gov't issued photo ID (the same as when you cash a check, or board an airplane, or any of a number of other things people do on a daily basis) - it not only proves *who* you are (as much as a DL can, anyway), but also provides evidence that you are in fact a resident in that precinct.
Of course, none of this is near as much fun as a mudfight... er, hammer-and-tongs battle between the Ds and the Rs.
~EdT.
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