Todd Smith: "I Did it Because I'm Republican"

by: Todd Hill

Fri Apr 27, 2007 at 00:43 PM CDT

Let me plug the fact that Town Hall meetings, should your representatives have them, are excellent opportunities to directly question your elected officials on votes, authored legislation, or legislation that concerns you that they voted for.  Get in their face!  As BOR has been documenting all week, my personal concern and sole mission for today's Town Hall was to question Representative Smith about his vote in favor of House Bill 218.  Otherwise know as the Voter Suppression Act of 2007.

I asked:

"Representative Smith you voted this week in favor of House Bill 218, which passed with a 76-68 vote.  The bill is inappropriately named the Voter Identification Bill; it should be entitled the Voter Suppression Bill.  If it becomes law this bill will disenfranchise elder seniors, minorities, and young people from exercising their constitutional right to vote, and you supported that.  Why?"

Representative Todd Smith said directly:

"I did it because I'm Republican."

"Listen, I'm a Republican, this was a Party line vote, and I uhhhh……voted appropriately as a result."

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety website, Mr. Smith, the following costs are what one can expect to pay for this "free" identification card in order to vote:

Over 60 - $5.00 (indefinite expiration)
under 60 - $15.00 (expiration 6 years)
plus a $1.00 online fee for the above

If you lose it, it costs $10.00 to replace

If you change your address, it costs $10.00
Plus a $1.00 online fee

As my close Democratic friend whispered to me during Todd Smith's diatribe, "that's a Poll Tax!"  You bet it is, this is Texas reverting to Jim Crow election laws intended to prevent legal, eligible voters from voting and rob us all of a solemn constitutional right.  Who is going to go and get either a $90 passport or a costly Texas Identification card, especially those under certain economic strain, in order to vote?  They just won't vote at all!

Moreover, Representative Smith said that House Bill 218 will allow someone who doesn't have two forms of picture identification to vote through a "separate ballot," or what regular voters and poll workers would call a provisional ballot.  As we all know, provisional ballots are generally not counted and usually thrown away. 

So by Republican Todd Smith's answer this morning, one can logically conclude that the Texas Republican Party endorses Jim Crow voter suppression legislation such as House Bill 218, and I assume also House Bill 626, which is up for vote this coming Monday.

True Courage Action Network, led by John Courage, sent out a call to action encouraging us all to contact our state senators and ask them to vote "NO" on HB 218, and call your state representatives and encourage them to vote "NO" on HB 626, due to hit the floor on Monday for a vote. 

Considering Representative Todd Smith spilled the beans that voter suppression is a Republican staple, you should all be motivated now to hit the phones and express your outrage to his colleagues in the House and Senate.