Voter ID: A Bad Idea Returns
Republicans haven’t had the issues working for them lately, so they’ve seized upon voter-identification laws as a possible easy score. Democrats – notably Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia – managed to kill off major bills in the Senate last session. But the hardest part in fighting such laws is explaining why a seemingly good idea – demanding that voters provide photo identification – is actually a bad and partisan one. Citizens least likely to have photo IDs are also the most disadvantaged – women, minorities, and the elderly – and these groups are all more likely to vote Democratic. In order to stamp out the virtually nonexistent crime of voter impersonation, Dems say, thousands of Texans could be disenfranchised when they show up at the polls with insufficient formal ID. At least five voter-ID bills have been filed thus far this session, although four of them are identical. Anchia signaled he might be willing to compromise on such a law, but a new bill would need features that previous ones failed to include: provisions for saving contested votes, educating voters on their options in such situations, and closure of mail-in ballot loopholes, where voter fraud is far more likely to occur. – L.N.
This article appears in January 9 • 2009.
