Shortly after Rep. Mary Denny presided over a committee vote that killed a bipartisan ethics bill (see “On the Lege”), the Aubrey Republican brought her own election bill to the House floor on Monday for a vote. It passed, of course, even though minority groups and other opponents, including the Texas AFL-CIO, had lobbied long and hard against the “modern-day poll tax,” which they say would serve no other purpose than to discourage poor and minority voters from participating in the electoral process.
But maybe that was the idea behind HB 1706, which, if passed by the Senate (though that now appears doubtful), would require Texas voters to produce a photo ID or two other forms of identification if they expect their ballots to be counted. Before the House tentatively approved the measure 83-63, the Legislative Black Caucus called on state leaders to take a stand against it. House Speaker Tom Craddick passed on the opportunity to do to Denny’s bill what he did to the ethics bill, so the caucus now looks to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst or Gov. Rick Perry to prevent it from moving forward. That’s a long shot, but, as Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, pointed out, the bill would put Texas on the map for being “one of the most restrictive places in the nation to vote.”
Interestingly, the 93 co-sponsors of the now-defeated ethics bill had at one time agreed that the legislation was needed to curb corporate money’s heavy-handed influence in political campaigns. But was a poll tax bill really warranted? “No one can really understand why we need this bill,” Veasey said. “There’s been no evidence of any type of widespread fraud … in any elections recently.”
Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, summed up thus: “Today, the Texas House made it harder for Texans to exercise their constitutional right to vote, while simultaneously making it easier for corporations to illegally influence our elections.” For the House, it was just another day at the office.
This article appears in May 6 • 2005.
