Tuesday Roundup: Voter ID Shenanigans
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 8:43am
Well, it happened. The House passed HB 218 this morning, one of two voter ID bills proposed in the Lege. 218 is the one that requires a photo id to vote. Representative Betty Brown, the Republican author of the bill, claimed that the right to vote had been protected against voter fraud. Rep. Rafael Anchia argued that, well, no, it hadn't, pointing out that college students buy counterfeit versions of the documents required by the bill all the time in order to drink.
Senator Rodney Ellis is already detailing how, with all eleven Democratic Senators back in the chamber, a floor debate on the bill could be blocked for a while. Other sources are pondering whether a measure like this is necessary to begin with, from George last night to Mario Perez at Statesman this morning. Every Democrat on the floor voted against this bill, and so did two Republicans.
The Senate also gave some business to Rick Perry yesterday, voting to overturn his order on mandatory HPV vaccinations. Perry has ten days to figure out what he wants to do with that, but the Senate vote was prohibitive, shaking out at 30-1.
The Senate also passed a measure which would create a Texas Innocence Commission, meant to address the seemingly steady stream of wrongful convictions in the state. I'm surprised so many Republicans voted for the bill — it passed 25-6 — and I suppose in a similar way I'm surprised anyone would vote against it.
A cold snap caused freezing over Easter weekend in Texas and prompted snow while I was out looking at houses. It caused far more significant problems for pecan and grape farmers: 75% of the grape harvest was destroyed. The story also includes the fact that Texas is the fifth largest producer of grapes of any state in the nation, which I didn't know. It has been a bad couple of years for people that grow things, what with the strange weather this year and the drought conditions in years previous.
In national news, Alberto Gonzales continues to be a source of unbridled hilarity. He even managed to inspire this headline from the New York Times, which is a level of mirth they usually avoid. It would have been nice for everyone if Gonzales had decided to hang it up, but that assumes that Bush wants him to. It makes no political sense to keep Gonzales around unless you feel honor-bound to do so or honestly believe he did nothing wrong, so that must be the motivation here. Otherwise it would be unfathomable that Gonzales still has a job.
Finally today, in case you haven't heard, you should only buy gas when it is cold. Since we live in Texas, and that means it won't be cold again until November, you should buy gas at night. The 20-something degree difference will get you 1% more gas, which will magically make the fact that gas is $4 a gallon acceptable, or perhaps even proper.
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Next Up: That Liberal 15th Amendment
By Patrick M McLeod
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 12:02pm
I think we all know by now that "voter fraud" is Republican double speak for "minorities voting Democratic." I'm beginning to wonder if part of the Republican double speak surrounding "strict constructionist" judges will be to favorably entertain cases that will roll back the activist 15th Amendment.
Tying this back into the larger narrative of the fired U.S. Attorneys and the recent attempts by Sonny and his henchmen to institute a blatant 21st century poll tax in Georgia, I'd be ten times more livid about this Lester Maddox style crap if it was even a news story.
It's amazing in a stunning, sad way that disenfranchising citizens doesn't even get garbage time on the national news. But hey, those photos of Larry Birkhead and Dannielynn are sooooo touching.
DoJ Pre-Clearance?
By SpudZeppelin
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 2:07pm
I take it someone in the already-controversial Gonzales Justice Department has pre-cleared (since Texas is one of *those* states, according to the Voting Rights Act) the changes to election law that HB 218 makes? It seems like the obvious errors (particularly in terms of how they diminish its effectiveness) and the untoward strain on certain minorities (eg. urban voters who don't drive) would make this a shoe-in for a Voting Rights Act smackdown *boggle*.
And take care: you guys are getting *hammered* by hail and tornados right now, if MSNBC is to be believed. Hope everyone stays safe....
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Foul Weather, Foul Legislation
By Patrick M McLeod
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 2:12pm
Staff at UNT's Research Park were evacuated to the basement due to a tornado warning a little while ago. It has poured...but no hail or twisters...on UNT's main campus.
Ugh
By Josh Berthume
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 3:15pm
I look hilarious. I got caught out in the rain.
Voter Fraud
By Peter Stern
Tue, 04/24/2007 - 4:12pm
Voter fraud has always been a problem in the U.S. (and elsewhere) and it will continue to plague us into the future whether or not people have to show ID when going to the polls.
Case in point, history tells us that gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe was hired to vote falsely under the names of recently deceased voters. In those days (late 1800's)those hired to do so were paid per vote. Poe went about from poll to poll voting under the names of the list provided to him. He must have made quite a bit of cash.
Unfortunately, this also led to his demise because the next day he was found dead lying in a street. No document ever proved whether he was robbed and/or murdered or if he overdosed on drugs and/or alcohol. The circumstances were "muddied".
With regard to ID's: Honestly, I think every citizen in the U.S. should carry at least one item of photo ID. While I comprehend that such an ID could be used by a "big brother" government spy system, there already are too many seedy and/or shady characters roaming our nation without any ID. In addition, sometimes ID's help locate missing persons, and have other good uses.
Why the focus on ID's by the Republicans? What are they hiding? Regardless, the GOP had to do something regarding Voter Fraud since citizens are now demanding some accountability. However, since they won't stop using the voting machines manufactured and delivered by wealthy special interest contributor Diebold, the most obvious insignificant issue to focus on is voter ID.
What about more security on the people who take part in setting up, moving the machines and counting the votes? What about declaring Diebold having a conflict of interest? What about getting independent and unbiased voting machine mechanics/programmers to checkout the machines before they are delivered? Is there even such a thing any more as an independent and unbiased person?
There's a lot more to the issue of voter faud than meets the eye. However, the issue will haunt us at least for the next several generations with or without ID's.
PS