(The cartoon image above is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News.)Texas is one of the states with a Voter ID law. It was pushed through the legislature a while back, as the Texas GOP's plan to stem the state's demographic tide (which doesn't favor Whites in the near future). The Republicans claim it is an effort to stem voter fraud, but that claim is ludicrous (since the amount of voter fraud in the state is minuscule). The law was killed by the Courts because it was deemed unfair to minorities, but revived after the Supreme Court tossed out part of the Voter Rights Law. The matter is once again in court, but Texas has re-instated the Voter ID provision until the federal courts rule again.
The truth is that the demographic trend does not favor Texas Republicans (whose policies only appeal to White voters). Those Republicans could have moderated their policies to reach out to minority voters (especially Hispanics), but they chose another route so they wouldn't have to give up their anti-minority policies. They chose to pass a Voter ID law instead, knowing that such a law would affect Democratic voters more than Republican voters. The Brennan Center For Justice estimates that while only about 8% of White Voters don't have the required picture ID, the percentage is much higher for groups that tend to vote Democratic (and the GOP knows that).
Those making less than $35k a year have about 15% who don't have the required ID, and the percentage of African-Americans without a picture ID is about 25%. For Hispanics, it is around 16%, and for younger voters (age 18-24) it is around 18%. Obviously, these groups (who just happened to vote heavily Democratic in the last few elections) will be much more affected that the White voters the GOP counts on -- and that is just why the law was passed (and revived after the court decision).
And the Republicans may have helped themselves out by suppressing the votes of another segment of the voting population -- the biggest segment, women. According to the ID law they passed, just having a picture ID is not enough. The name on that picture ID must be the same exactly as the name on the voter registration card. And according to the Brennan Center, that could keep up to 34% of women from voting. The percentage of women is higher because many changed their names when they got married (or divorced), but may not have had that change made to both their driver's license (or other picture ID) and their voter registration card -- and if the names on both don't match, then they can't vote.
This could be very important in the governor's race next year here in Texas -- where we have a woman running who champions the rights of women (Wendy Davis). If she is to have a chance of winning, their must be a very good voter turnout among women. Any suppression of a significant number of women voters will hurt her chances (and make the Republicans very happy).
I urge everyone, both women and men, to check out Empower The Vote's website on Voter ID basics, and determine if they have what is necessary to vote. Do it now, and if necessary, go the the Driver's License office near you and request a voter ID card (which they are legally required to provide to you free of charge). Next year's election is a very important one. Make sure you are one of the votes the Republicans are trying to suppress.
