The ever revolving positions that Republican State Representative, Todd Smith (HD-92), has taken now on Voter Suppression Legislation has taken yet another turn while revealing the legislation is on shaky ground:
Seeking compromise where none has seemed possible, a top Republican leader is pushing for a delay of up to four years before enacting new voter identification requirements, giving Texas time to educate the public and conduct a massive statewide voter registration campaign.
"It's not something that's going to take effect immediately," said Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, the Republican chairman of the House Elections Committee, which is set to take up the volatile issue April 6.
You'll recall that Smith was in favor of Voter Suppression legislation because he is "Republican." You'll recall that Todd supported Voter Suppression legislation if it didn't increase costs for people having to purchase additional ID's in order to exercise their right to vote. Now we have the above to chew on from the reluctant Elections Committee chair. The pressure is clearly crushing Smith--someone who has flown under the radar and lived in the political doghouse for most of his years as a legislator.
Todd, as your colleague, Representative Rafael Anchia (HD-103), has indicated very strongly on numerous occasions, there is no compromise to be had on Voter Suppression legislation. There is no widespread voter fraud issue in Texas. You and your Republican colleagues are chasing phantom issues while mainstream Texans struggle with escalating utility costs, rising insurance rates, and rising college tuition rates.
Moreover, declaring that whatever legislation that comes from the Elections Committee, and potentially passed by the legislature, would not take effect for four years clearly demonstrates that number one, voter fraud is not a widespread issue in Texas because if it were any legislation would take effect immediately in order to rectify this phantom problem. But, I also forgot that perhaps you on the Election Committee might not totally understand this manufactured issue--citing reports without reading them and that actually contradict your argument. Number two, Todd Smith reveals that the legislation is on shaky ground. For such a deep and emotional compromise declaration means that Smith is having trouble getting consensus on legislation at the committee level, and ultimately having trouble gathering consensus on voting this poll tax out of the House. Good, and our next step is to show up in mass on April 7th and publically testify against Voter Suppression legislation.
The facts are that residents of House District 92 are letting their representative know either at Town Halls, via the phones, written letters, or otherwise, that Todd Smith's priorities are wrong. That Smith and his republican colleagues are wasting time on partisan political legislation. Texans want escalating utility costs, rising insurance rates, and many other issues addressed in the 81st legislative session before we'll allow a poll tax to be instituted
Possible sweeteners floated by Dewhurst include a two- to-four-year grace period before identification demands are enforced...
If this is such an urgent and immediate problem, why would Republicans be willing to wait four years to make it law? Try to somehow explain why they would be willing to offer a compromise if they truly believed this...
"Voter fraud is a very real threat to the legitimacy of our electoral system, and in a close election could very well compromise the results of what voters would rightly expect to be a fair and honest election." -- Republican State Senator Craig Estes (Source)
...or if they truly believed this...
""The voting system we have today is easy to cheat...To assume there is no voting fraud in Texas is laughable." -- Republican State Sentaor Troy Fraser (Source)
...or if they truly believed this...
Senator West: Is this more important than dealing with tuition deregulation?
Senator Williams: Senator West, I believe that it is. (Source)
Why on earth would anyone be so insistent on passing legislation that would not even take effect until 2012? Especially considering that there is such an incredible amount of evidence to suggest it's not necessary? Couldn't they commission a state-sponsored, bipartisan study and wait two years? They could still have plenty of time to pass the law and have it in place by 2012 -- or are they worried that a study would prove what everyone already knows: this is a solution in search of a problem, that voter impersonation is a non-issue, and that if we really want to curb voter fraud and improve the integrity of our elections, there are plenty of other policies out there that can do the trick.
Of course, maybe it has nothing to do with policy. Maybe it has to do with politics, as TX House Republican Elections Chair Todd Smith admitted in this story in the Statesman, "Voter ID measure set to head back to House" --
"I believe to the bottom of my heart, if I was putting on my partisan Republican hat, the best thing that could possibly happen would be for this legislation to be narrowly defeated, so Republican candidates could go into these marginal (could go either way) districts and blame Democrats for elections being less secure than they could be," Smith said.
Yup. There you have it. Republicans don't care about voter ID -- they're willing to delay it. Republicans just want a wedge issue they can use against Democrats. And you don't even have to take my liberal commie word for it:
I'm just repeating what Texas Republicans are saying.
Amidst our bashing of Republican leaders with the Voter ID issue, we do miss the one sparkle of virtue in their actions. For it is certainly noble to fight intensely for the well-being of democracy. Some Republicans, although we suspect otherwise, genuinely believe that Voter ID requirements would protect the purity of democracy. As Democrats, we think that such requirements actually contaminate the voting process, so we will fight like hell against it.
So here we see members of the legislature arguing for countless hours in defense of America's greatest ideal. At least our representatives exude patriotism for state and country. The Republican leaders insist we make this change, however, as if Texan democracy needs a fix. Last I checked; really? The legislature only stands in session for five months, so if we want to hijack that important time for one issue, it should be an issue of extreme urgency.
But I do not perceive any crucial problems with Texan democracy. A simple observation of elected officials will tell you that. In a Republican-majority state, every statewide office holder has a GOP membership. Not discounting the growing presence of Democrats, though; the House of Representatives is almost split down the middle, and almost every major city has a Democrat majority in their respective city councils. The only argument you can make in favor of the sickness of our democracy is the lack of high profile Hispanic politicians, but I have not heard one Republican contend that SB 362 alleviates that worry.
Todd Smith, David Dewhurst, etc. might maintain that the voters want Voter ID requirements. I guess that's true, but did the Founding Fathers listen to the people when determining how best government should listen to the people? That just doesn't make any sense. It makes even less sense when over 40% of Texan voters misstated the current rules on Voter ID, suggesting they are not informed enough to have a fully evolved opinion. This is why, of course, we listen to the experts: a technique in which Representative Smith, at least, finds difficult.
Even if the UT poll found 90 percent support for Voter IDs, though, the poll found more important numbers (.pdf). The poll's 21st question asked the open-ended query, "What would you say is the most important problem facing the state of Texas today?" Nowhere in the document, however, do I see a response along the lines of "Integrity of Voting." Even if every "Miscellaneous" response related to Voter ID (and that obviously is not the case), three other issue would be more important by more Texans by wide margins. For this reason, it would make more sense for Republicans to champion racist immigration laws than racist voting laws.
Instead, our state's leadership is completely wasting our time. According to the poll numbers, Texans would definitely prefer they tackle the problems or education, immigration, and the economy. They probably would also easily prefer work on the energy industry, health care, and Texas' lack of true political leadership. Texans as a whole are apparently more in touch with the health of our democracy than the Republicans are - they realize there is no problem! And when the experts are against the Republican Party's stance on this, too, one has to wonder what the hell they are thinking. The current session only has two and a half months left before saying goodbye for another year and a half. Instead of squandering their hours spent in the capitol, can our state's leaders instead try to control the rising cost of my tuition, distribute the federal stimulus money productively, and become less addicted to oil?
There were reasons epitomized by the governance of Tom Craddick that Democrats made electoral gains. Mr. Craddick no longer sits on that pedestal of power, but those reasons are still there. Republicans still seem to screw up our government.
This past Friday House Elections Chair, Todd Smith, repeatedly cited findings by former President Jimmy in a 2005 Building Confidence in U.S. Elections report as evidence to support the need for Voter Identification legislation. Smith wielded this argument as really his strongest defense against Democrats and mainstream Texans advocating that Voter ID is tantamount to Voter Suppression.
"Since HAVA, an increasing number of states have insisted on stringent, though very different, ID requirements for all voters. This, in turn, has caused concern that such requirements could erect a new barrier to voting for people who do not have the requisite identification card."
The “Carter Report” as Smith called it, clearly intimates that the Help America Vote Act has empowered states to pursue Voter Suppression legislation which in effect creates barriers for individuals to exercise their right to vote. The report outlines that HAVA will be interpreted as a way to pass Voter Suppression legislation, which would be counter productive to the electoral process and suggests an alternative, the REAL ID program, other than what Republicans in Texas are advocating for.
Next time that Todd Smith decides to cite a report by a former president as a basis for arguing in favor of Voter Suppression legislation it would be helpful for him to actually read a report that contradicts his argument before citing it as evidence to support his argument.
Republican Representative, Todd Smith (HD-92), Chair of the Elections Committee, which will soon hear Voter Suppession legislation, has probably now found himself under an intense spotlight that he may not want, or is ready for.
This past Friday Smith tried to orchestrate a Town Hall meeting at 7:30AM that was special invitation only--at least until word spread to the public that a Town Hall was to occur. Resident voters like my parents, who have lived in HD-92 for over 30 years, my grandmother, who has lived in HD-92 for over 50 years, and many more constituents received no notice they could meet and greet with their state representative. As you already know, though, Mid-Cities folks aren't strangers to Smith Town Halls.
The Mid-Cities Democrats, coupled with the Tarrant County Democratic Party, passed the word to not only constituents, but concerned Texans in whole, to talk with State Representative Todd Smith about problems over Voter Suppression legislation.
Minutes into the Town Hall some of the first comments and questions were on Voter Suppression legislation, which set the tone for the entire hour. Early speakers raised concern over voter fraud, but quickly the packed Old Bedford Schoolhouse spoke in one voice against Voter Suppression legislation.
Smith commented that constituents in his district "were concerned about voter fraud," but the vast majority of the audience felt that their were "far more important issues," such as escalating utility costs, high insurance rates, uninsured children, and just growing economic concerns that are of more importance than Todd's perceived "issue."
Will Todd Smith, as Chair of the Elections Committee, toe the Party line on Voter ID legislation?
According to Todd's interview from the Star-Telegram today he intends to do exactly that:
The voter ID act, requiring voters to show photo identification before casting ballots, has already provoked a partisan uproar after the Senate approved a controversial rules change to allow consideration of the bill. Democrats have vowed to kill it, as they did in 2007, saying it would disenfranchise the poor, elderly and minorities, all of whom tend to lean toward Democrats.
Smith supports the legislation but said he will seek a bipartisan compromise. He also dismisses assertions that Straus' appointment of a Republican chairman and a 5-4 Republican majority on the committee was deliberately aimed at ramming the bill through without the prospect of compromise.
"I wasn't put on this committee to rig elections in my party's favor," Smith said, vowing to "do everything in my power to accommodate [Democrats'] concerns about disenfranchising any legal voters, including constituencies that may traditionally support Democrats more than Republicans."
Republicans have made passage of the bill a priority to respond to constituents' calls for tougher laws to ensure that only legally registered voters can cast ballots.
I have three holes to punch in Todd's arguments above. First, we all know that Todd supports Voter ID legislation, he indicated as much when I asked him at a Town Hall event back in 2007; however, he supports it for Party ideological purposes versus true reason and logic. The fact is, Todd, that there is no compromise to be had on Voter ID legislation. Your colleague Rep. Rafael Anchia has indicated that much already. Why? Because there is no voter fraud issue in Texas. This is fabricated Pollyanna bellowing on the part of the Texas GOP. As you did in 2007, you are set once more to toe the Party line on disenfranchisement legislation for no other reason than you are "Republican."
So I was driving through Northeast Tarrant County this morning heading over to my mom and dad's home in Euless when I came across a Todd Smith sign. You'll recall that Todd Smith is the Republican State Representative in House District 92 here in the Hurst, Euless, Bedford area of Tarrant County.
First, I found it fascinating that since 1996, when Todd was first elected, I don't ever recall him putting up campaign signs. Kudos to Democratic challenger Kalandra Wheeler for ensuring that Todd actually has to campaign to keep his job this election cycle.
Second, not only was the sign ugly in its color contrast (neon green, blue, and white), but there was something missing. You see, there was a time in Northeast Tarrant County when all you had to do was have "Republican" somewhere on the sign and it essentially guaranteed an election victory for you. I guess Todd senses something different, as we Democrats do, about the electorate these days because there is absolutely no mention of him being Republican anywhere on his signs.
“The speaker is trying to place himself above the law,” state Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, said. “He’s not above the law. We’re all subject to the same laws. It is clearly an abuse of power and an abuse of office.”
Smith said he rushed to speak with Davis immediately after the ruling because she had just told him the opposite was true — namely, that members of a legislative body must be allowed to present a motion to remove their leader.
The Euless Republican said an emotional Davis told him that she and Assistant Parliamentarian Chris Griesel were going to resign over the ruling.
“She said, ‘I’m resigning right now and Chris is going with me,’ ” Smith said.
It was Todd Smith who played a key role in encouraging, and then revealing to Craddick, that Davis had resigned. This whole event was such fun I still have goosebumps!
We haven't seen a mutiny like this in YEARS.
I may not be Smith's biggest supporter, but props to him for playing a key role in attempting to overpower King Craddick.
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."
With a puzzled look, my fellow Democratic constituents and I essentially dropped our jaws to the floor. And he not only said it once,twice, but three times! The final time he basically insinuated that the Republican Party endorses voter suppression by stating:
"Listen, I'm a Republican, this was a Party line vote, and I uhhhh……voted appropriately as a result."
He went on to ho-hum about the intent of the bill was to keep individuals ineligible to vote away from the polls, which, by his own admission with his bizarre quote, is nothing more then BS.
