The Indiana Court of Appeals today declared Indiana's voter ID law unconstitutional because it does not apply uniformly to all voters.
The three-judge panel unanimously held that the requirement that voters present government-issued identification at the polls runs afoul of the Indiana Constitution's "Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause," which provides: "The General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens."
Two reasons were cited by the Court of Appeals: the law doesn't require absentee voters to provide an affidavit affirming their identity even while requiring photo identification for in-person voters; and the law exempts residents of state-licensed care facilities from the ID requirement if their facility happens to be a polling place.
Texas Republicans have fought tooth and nail to suppress our voting rights, and they've continually pointed to the Indiana law as "proof" that it works. They have some serious egg on their face today, as the party of "No" learns what it means to be shot down for their illegal and dishonorable efforts to suppress voting rights.
Republican State Representative Dwayne Bohac -- who is a member of the House Elections Committee and one of the key champions of voter ID suppression legislation in the Texas legislature -- has on his payroll for the company Campaign Data Systems a man named Ed Johnson, the associate voter registrar at the Harris County Tax Assesor Collectors office.
Here's the whole story from Off the Kuff -- with original reporting also from KHOU TV in Houston:
As you know, there was a lawsuit filed against Paul Bettencourt and the Harris County Tax Assessor’s office over allegations of illegal mishandling of provisional ballots in the past November election. That suit was later expanded to include allegations of voter disenfranchisement by Bettencourt’s office. According to KHOU, some mighty interesting facts have come out so far in the deposition phase.
“This is as blatant a case of election corruption that I have seen,” said Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project, a Democrat activist group.
The Lone Star Project’s complaint revolves around Ed Johnson.
Johnson is the associate voter registrar at the Harris County Tax Assessor Collectors office, but according to state documents, that’s just his day job. Johnson is also a paid director of a small company that provides voter data to Republican candidates for office. That company, Campaign Data Systems, billed at least $140,000 in 2008.
Campaign Data Systems happens to be owned by Republican State Rep. Dwayne Bohac, who also happens to be one of the big pushers of voter ID bills. Johnson testified before the Senate about supposed instances of vote fraud. He tells the Republicans what they want to hear in the guise of a nonpartisan election official, while being on their payroll. Nice little scam they’ve got going there, no? I think we all have a better idea now why State Reps. Garnet Coleman and Ana Hernandez called for appointed Tax Assessor Leo Vasquez’s resignation over Johnson’s (and George Hammerlein’s) testimony, and it makes Vasquez’s response look that much weaker.
Dear Republican Members of the Texas House of Representatives,
Swing Texas voters don't care about what you care about.
Since 2003, you have pushed highly partisan issues -- namely congressional redistricting, school vouchers, and voter ID -- to the forefronts of your legislative agendas. Throw in some gay-bashing and the bi-annual Pro Lifer contests, and your legislative agenda looks gets Rush Limbaugh so excited he has to double-up on his order of oxycontin just to cope with the pain of triumph.
I also know that you probably don't care that Speaker Straus proved himself to be a total pansy this past weekend. Remember these words:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." This statement, that originated in the Bible, has been preached by Sam Houston and Abraham Lincoln, and it is appropriately used here today. The Texas House of Representatives cannot conduct the people's business if it is divided. And this is why I became a candidate for speaker.
I will try my best to empower members so that they can do what is right for their constituents and for the people of Texas. After all, that is why we are here.
For the next 140 days, the 150 of us have the important responsibility of representing 24 million Texans.
Yeah...turns out Straus couldn't lead his way out of a brown paper sack. No surprises, I guess.
But you, House Republicans -- probably still pretty pleased with yourselves. You got to be the "party of No" -- just like your national allies. You got to be obstructionists -- despite holding the Governor's office, the Senate, the House, and, well, every other office of importance, you proved to your constituents that you just couldn't get the job done.
You have (almost) killed CHIP expansion. You killed the unemployment insurance bill (saving Rick Perry the hassle of having to veto it). You did a little Tier 1 expansion of higher education (after the Legislative Study Group basically told you what needed to happen), but not much else with higher education.
And if you're thinking this will help you in the 2010 midterms -- think again. As Matt pointed out before, Democrats have only picked up seats since we went to Ardmore -- you really think that talking for a few days will be the thing that gets us beat? Get real.
Sure voter ID is popular -- but you know what is even more popular? Helping Texans who get screwed by insurance companies. Getting health care for Texas kids. Making college more affordable. Pick an issue -- you're not on the right side of it.
Keep crowing about voter ID as your silver bullet. You're going to need more ammo than voter ID in your gun if you plan on holding the House with Pinocchio Joe at the helm. A limosine Republican that couldn't get voter ID through the House and, in effect, may have killed a pro-life bill in the process? How are you all even going to get through the primaries?
Meanwhile, swing voters will continue resonating with the policies Texas Democrats have worked on all decade long. Keep working as obstructionists -- it is the easiest way for us to show you the way to the minority.
Well, if Rick Perry, Joe Straus, David Dewhurst and their GOP conspirators couldn't successfully deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of Texans, they succeeded in denying them unemployment benefits.
I've seen a lot of black-hearted things in the Capitol, but I've never been as disgusted as I was when I saw GOP House Caucus Chair Larry Taylor grinning like the Cheshire Cat as Straus and his henchmen used the very device they'd been whining about -- slow talking -- to kill the unemployment insurance bill.
They were grinning like cats, but they were behaving like wee, witless errand-folk for Perry. Perry opposed the UI bill because he had to object to something in the federal stimulus package. Refusing a few hundred million from Barack Obama seemed just the ticket to raise his creep-cred with the far right. Even if it raised taxes on businesses about $700 million. Even if it increased the suffering of 200,000 Texans who've lost their jobs because G.W. Bush and Perry almost destroyed the economy.
Straus and the Republicans used their majority power to rig the House calendar. They should have made the calendar by cutting letters from newspapers and magazines and pasting them on plain paper like a blackmail note in the movies. You want your voting rights? Then we'll let our friends in the insurance industry steal more of your money, etc. etc.
Republicans thought Democrats would blink. They didn't. It was the Republicans who refused over and over again to place insurance reform and the unemployment bill ahead of the voter I.D. measure. They rigged this blackmail from the beginning, and they will pay the price in 2010.
Those post-unemployment bill podium grins from Republican Larry Taylor, Warren Chisum and Phil King were sinister. They were actually happy to increase the unearned suffering of their fellow Texans.
Still, congratulations to House Democrats and all who helped you defeat the voter suppression measure. Take a few moments to celebrate, even while you continue to work overtime to save insurance reform and other critical bills the Republicans booby trapped.
Because there are valid points of order on the Voter I.D. proposal, Democrats early on ask Speaker Joe Strauss if he would sustain one of them -- the fact that committee minutes for the bill were not filed within the three day deadline. He said the violation of the rule would make a bill ineligible for consideration.
Later, Straus indicated he might have, uh, misunderstood the question.
If it was a misunderstanding, it is a misunderstanding that cost the House several days work. Because if Straus had stuck with his original statement, Voter I.D. could have been called up, dispensed with on a point of order, and the House could have gone on to work on insurance reform and other issues.
But Straus and Republicans don't want to bring those bills up. It's clear they've gamed the calendar and the process to help their friends in the insurance industry, as well as Gov. Rick Perry who says he doesn't want to accept federal stimulus money for unemployment compensation -- another bill behind voter I.D. on the calendar.
Today, Representative Richard Raymond fully enunciated what the debate over voter suppression is about. Rep. Raymond made it clear that his stand, along with other Democrats in the House, is about principal and a greater good.
Texas Democrats have stood up in fights like this before.
In 2003, Tom DeLay, Tom Craddick, Rick Perry, Karl Rove and others fought for mid-decade redistricting to redraw congressional districts.
Democrats stood opposed to this plan because it disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters.
Of course, the Republican Party either didn't care or didn't believe the argument.
Democrats had no choice. Nearly every Democrat joined together and broke quorum to head to Ardmore Oklahoma. Republicans called Democrats names. They said Democrats would pay for this in the election. They said voters wouldn't care and they said the plan was fair and legitimate.
Republican's eventually succeeded in getting their Republican maps. They disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Texans. The Supreme Court ended up getting involved in this debate. Nearly 3 years later, the Supreme Court ruled the Republican drawn map was unconstitutional. In United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, the Supreme Court upheld a state could redistrict between censuses, but struck down Congressional District 23 as racial gerrymandering in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Democrats were proven right.
Not only did the court agree with the 52 Democrats who went to Oklahoma but Democrats have made substantial gains in the Texas House since protect your right to vote. Since 2004, Democrats have gone from less than 60 Democrats in the House to 74.
As one friend concisely stated, since 2004, only one non-freshman Democrat has lost in November. All in all, I'd say that's a record to be proud of.
I agree with them.
When Richard Raymond spoke passionately today about why he stands opposed to the Republican backed voter suppression legislation, he can stand knowing history is on his side. Richard Raymond and all of the Democrats working to protect your right to vote can know, Texans stand behind them in the only poll that matters.
Many Republicans, and even some others (such as Mr. Burka) have complained that Democrats are acting feisty on the wrong side of public opinion. But this is not a really good argument against Democrats for two different reasons. First, there is no very good way to know public opinion on the issue right now. Second, American tradition is not to listen to public opinion regarding the efficacy of democracy.
First Point: There is no very good way to know public opinion of the Voter ID issue right now. Proponents of Voter Suppression who point to public opinion point to the February-March poll by the University of Texas's Texas Politics Series, which found significant support for "voters should be required to present a government-issued photo id at the polls before they can be allowed to vote." The problem is, they don't really know about the issue. As Katherine pointed out yesterday, "we already have voter identification," it simply is not a strict photo identification. And many voters do not know that. When asked about their knowledge of the law in the same poll, 42% incorrectly stated that there is already Voter ID law and another 9% were not confident enough to answer. That's a majority of Texans who do not understand the issue!
In the Spring of 2008, I took a Public Opinion class at the University of Texas by Daron Shaw, someone I consider to be a very knowledgeable pollster. (Oh, Fox News thinks he is good, too.) He taught that polls are not necessarily a reliable barometer for public opinion if the voters were not knowledgeable on the topic. To quote from my notes: "Shaw thinks that if it something people haven't really thought about and cared about, than there really is no public opinion that is valid on it."
This is one reason that Democrats are not falling line and file behind the February-March poll. The only voters who have really "thought and cared about" Voter ID are a small amount of very politically active Republicans and Democrats. The majority of voters, who are not very politically active, have not thought much on the issue.
But there is a second point, too: Even if public opinion is clearly against Democrats, public opinion is not a judge of the efficacy of democracy. This is why the founding fathers sat in a room and discussed the Constitution alone, and then they made the Bill of Rights. True, state legislatures had to accept the Constitution, but it was not put to a referendum! If public opinion was followed when making decisions about Democracy, the Civil Rights Era would be nothing more than a footnote in our textbooks -- there would be no major Civil Rights Act!
The Democratic Party is the party that championed the Civil Rights Act under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, and we will continue to support civil rights whether or not public opinion "agrees" with us. The reason for this is because civil rights -- specifically VOTING rights -- are not up for a vote.
So, to recap. We cannot really trust any polls on Voter ID because there is no thoughtful and informed public opinion on the issue. Even if there was, this is a voting rights issue; and voting rights are not up for vote.
House Speaker Joe Straus and dozens of GOP House members who signed their names to blanket objections which block insurance reform are doing what Republicans do best: serving their masters in the insurance lobby.
When they placed their partisan voter ID bill at the top of the regular calendar -- ahead of the Texas Department of Insurance sunset bill, they hoped to block key insurance reforms. Like the common-sense, pro-consumer amendment that would require Insurance Commission review and approval of insurance rates before companies could assess them.
Of course, if they succeed in passing voter suppression legislation, they'll put into law bureaucratic barriers to the ballot box. They'll have fewer angry voters to overcome because fewer angry voters will be allowed to vote. That's the whole point of the GOP voter ID plan: put structural barriers into the law that guarantees them power no matter how voters might feel.
Democrats have tried several times to move insurance reform to the top of the calendar. Republicans have said no. But they've made it clear they put their cronies in the insurance industry before the needs of hardworking Texans who now pay the highest insurance rates in the nation.
In this, new Republican House Speaker looks more and more like the man he vanquished, notorious former Speaker Tom Craddick. It's a shame, really. No matter the face in the chair, it's the insurance industry that controls the Republican Party. It's not really a party at all. It's an insurance industry PAC.
It was a holiday yesterday, so you might not have been paying full attention to the Texas legislature-- specifically the Texas House.
Voter ID has slowed the Texas House to a near crawl. Republican's put the bill on the calendar and refuse to take the highly controversial bill off the general calendar.
KT then made it a point to discuss who controls what part of the legislative process. It looks a little like this:
Republicans control the Texas Senate.
Republicans control the Texas House.
Republicans set the calendar.
Republicans set the speaker.
Republicans set the agenda.
Had Craddick not be ousted, had they still hovered somewhere just south of 90 members, etc., etc. But the fact is, he was, and they don't. So it's up to the House Rs, not the House Ds, to get the train back on track. They're the ones who have to get the Ds to compromise, because unless they do, the Ds can use, in the Speaker's parlance, the process that's available to them.
Smith even quotes the Speaker himself from the Quorum Report.
"Democrats have been using the process that's available to them to use in a way that I wouldn't suggest is helpful," he said in an impromptu gaggle with the press during floor discussion of the Top 10 Percent Rule debate. "I would say the more they talk, the more explaining they have to do and I feel like the entire Republican caucus agrees with me on that. And I just hope they put aside some of this, some of the abuses of the process - legitimate - but I think ill-timed beyond just making their point."
Smith finally boils down the debate to the simplest point.
As for the explaining to be done, I would say it falls to those people who are so hell-bent on passing voter ID ahead of windstorm, insurance sunset, and other bills that pass the test of pressing need.
This is a complicated issue. Republicans control every branch of government in Texas. The far right wants voter suppression legislation over any other bill. They have made that decision... not democrats.
We have 1 day left to get to work on the people's business. It is only up to the Republican's in the House to get that done. They are the ones in power after all.
As the Republicans' voter suppression legislation gets closer to either a vote, a special session, or irrelevance, it's worth noting why so many of us consider this bill to be voter suppression, rather than voter identification.
Simply put: we already have voter identification. It's your voter registration card, and when you vote, you must present that card. In absence of that card, you can present a driver's license, government-issued bill, passport, or other forms of ID.
Proponents of the voter-suppressing ID requirement seem to think that this process leads to widespread voter fraud. Except that's not true. The Report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform states that "there is no evidence of extensive fraud in U.S. elections or of multiple voting."
Instead, it is a concerted effort to disenfranchise those groups that have traditionally been marginalized and blocked from practicing their full rights as citizens of the United States of America. From the National Journal:
...it's not the mainstream majority of voters who are at risk here. It's the smaller percentage of Americans who are on the electorate's margins -- students, the elderly, low-income voters, African Americans, non-English-speaking residents -- who disproportionately tend to lack photo IDs. The same group is more likely to lack proof of citizenship such as passports and birth certificates.
...
These barriers are not quaint relics of a forgotten era. At the risk of repeating ourselves, let's look again at the landmark 2008 Survey of the Performance of American Elections, the first empirical, post-election analysis of its kind. Conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that survey found that in category after category -- voter registration, wait times, mail/absentee ballots -- African Americans and Hispanics encountered more problems at the polls than whites.
The statistics on ID requirements were particularly disturbing. A full 70 percent of African Americans and 65 percent of Hispanics were asked to show "picture ID," compared with only 51 percent of whites -- even in states where no such ID is required.
Our country is already facing a situation where minorities are having difficulty casting their ballots. We don't need to be making it more difficult for people to vote--we need to be doing all we can to increase turnout. SB362, the Republicans' Voter Suppression Legislation, works contrary to this goal, and against recommendations of the Federal Election Reform Commission. From their report:
The introduction of voter ID requirements has raised concerns that they may present a barrier to voting, particularly by traditionally marginalized groups, such as the poor and minorities, some of whom lack a government-issued photo ID. They may also create obstacles for highly mobile groups of citizens. Part of these concerns are addressed by assuring that government-issued photo identification is available without expense to any citizen and second, by government efforts to ensure that all voters are provided convenient opportunities to obtain [an ID].
Let's see how the Republicans' Voter Suppression Legislation does on these two counts: making IDs available for free, and making sure all voters have opportunities to receive one. Short version: it doesn't.
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Because there are valid points of order on the Voter I.D. proposal, Democrats early on ask Speaker Joe Strauss if he would sustain one of them -- the fact that committee minutes for the bill were not filed within the three day deadline. He said the violation of the rule would make a bill ineligible for consideration.
