Texas implements voter ID law ... today, curiously enough

[NightHawkeye]

It's not exactly coincidental ...

Greg Abbott implements Texas Voter ID law immediately after the ruling. | PJ Tattler

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott responded to today’s Supreme Court decision striking down Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by implementing Texas’ voter ID law. The Texas legislature had passed that law in 2011, only to have the Obama-Holder Justice Department put it on ice while challenging it under the Voting Rights Act.

“I have prosecuted voter fraud across the state of Texas,” he told Turner. “Voter fraud is real in the state of Texas. It’s been real ever since LBJ won a disputed election for the United States Senate well over fifty years ago.
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[Lovely Jar]

Good for them.

 

[utdbear]

they start giving away the free photo ID's starting tomorrow.

God Bless Texas.

 

[Thunder Peel]

We're overrun here in Texas. Good for them for taking precautions to prevent fraud. It's something I wish every state would implement.

 

[jgarden]

In the United States of America majority-minority or minority-majority area is a United States state or jurisdiction whose population is composed of less than 50% non-Hispanic whites. Racial data is derived from self-identification questions on the U.S. Census and on U.S. Census Bureau estimates. (See Race in the United States Census).

- Four states are majority-minority as of 2010: Hawaii (which is the only state that has never had a white majority), New Mexico, California, and Texas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_minority

Are we really to believe that it is all just a matter of coincidence that the move to voter ID in Texas comes after it became a "majority-minority" state in 2010, where the "Black," "Hispanic" and "Asian" electorate (all traditional Democratic supporters) now outnumber the state's "White" voters?

 

[jgarden]

To hear Republicans tell it, they are waging a virtuous campaign to crack down on rampant voter fraud – a curious position for a party that managed to seize control of the White House in 2000 despite having lost the popular vote .....

Despite many instances of electoral fraud internationally, in the U.S. a major study by the Justice Department between 2002 and 2007 showed of the 300 million votes cast in that period, federal prosecutors convicted only 86 people for voter fraud – and of those few cases, most involved persons who were simply unaware of their ineligibility.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830#ixzz1r5HSfVEp

Given that there were only 86 convictions for voter fraud under the Bush Administration during a 5 year period, there must be other factors at work to make it such a high priority among conservatives!

 

[DaisyDay]

The last Texas voter id law got thrown out because the ids were difficult to get - some places were as far as 250 miles from where people lived.

 

[drew89]

Are we really to believe that it is all just a matter of coincidence that the move to voter ID in Texas comes after it became a "majority-minority" state in 2010, where the "Black," "Hispanic" and "Asian" electorate (all traditional Democratic supporters) now outnumber the state's "White" voters?

Are minorities prohibited from getting a voter ID card?

 

[NightHawkeye]

Perhaps the nation's most well-known and well-documented cases of voter fraud occurred in Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There were many allegations of fraud on both sides. Thus one writer alleges that Johnson's campaign manager, future Texas governor John B. Connally, was connected with 202 ballots in Precinct 13 in Jim Wells County that had curiously been cast in alphabetical order and just at the close of polling. Some of these voters swore that they had not voted that day. Robert Caro argued in his 1989 book that Johnson had stolen the election in Jim Wells County and other counties in South Texas, as well as rigging 10,000 ballots in Bexar County alone. An election judge, Luis Salas, said in 1977, that he had certified 202 fraudulent ballots for Johnson.

The state Democratic convention upheld Johnson. Stevenson went to court, but—with timely help from his friend Abe Fortas—Johnson prevailed. Johnson was elected senator in November and went to Washington tagged with the ironic label "Landslide Lyndon," which he often used deprecatingly to refer to himself.

 

[Douger]

Honest question here, without the need to show an ID what are the chief safeguards against fraudulent/multiple voting?

 

[NightHawkeye]

Honest question here, without the need to show an ID what are the chief safeguards against fraudulent/multiple voting?

I detect a curious silence on the issue by opponents of voter ID.

Hmm ...

 

[Billnew]

Are we really to believe that it is all just a matter of coincidence that the move to voter ID in Texas comes after it became a "majority-minority" state in 2010, where the "Black," "Hispanic" and "Asian" electorate (all traditional Democratic supporters) now outnumber the state's "White" voters?

So they become the majority so the minority put in an id law that the majority doesn't like? Is that what your saying?

they start giving away the free photo ID's starting tomorrow.

God Bless Texas.

Really? Because from previous higher court rulings this would seem to be the need to overcome the problem.

Honest question here, without the need to show an ID what are the chief safeguards against fraudulent/multiple voting?

They sign their name, geez. No one can sign their name twice in the same election, didn't you know that?

Without proper id, how do we know a person doesn't vote multiple times? How do we know there isn't wide scale voter fraud? Illegals voting?

By the way, was Texas on the roster for VRA requirements prior to the over turning of the outdated law that was signed the year I was born?
If it wasn't then it was mere coincindence.

 

[kermit]

Honest question here, without the need to show an ID what are the chief safeguards against fraudulent/multiple voting?

That question implies that voter ID is a safeguard at all. In-person voter fraud is so rare as to be practically non-existant. Voter fraud in general is rare and only a small number of cases are committed in-person. The vast majority of voter fraud is committed via absentee ballots and ID's do nothing to prevent that.

One has to wonder what the motivation behind voter ID laws that might prevent a handful of voter fraud cases per election nationally while ignoring the most prevelant form of voter fraud.

 

[trunks2k]

Honest question here, without the need to show an ID what are the chief safeguards against fraudulent/multiple voting?

Depends on the state. In PA, the first time you showed up to vote at a given precinct, you had to show your voter registration card, ID, or some piece of mail addressed to you. You then signed next to your name. The next time you come to vote, you just sign next to your name, and your signature is compared to your previous one. If there's any question about your identity or eligibility, you can be prompted for some sort of identifying document and/or have to submit a provisional ballot.

Ultimately it just comes down to risk vs reward. The risk in getting caught committing in person voter fraud is not worth the reward of a single vote towards your candidate. If fraud is gonna happen, it's not going to happen via voter impersonation at the polls. At least not at any sort of a significant level or, IMO, any level that would mean the number of fraudulent votes prevented exceeds the number of legitimate voters who are prevented from voting due to lack of ID.

Not a fan of the idea of needing to show ID, but I'm for putting a thumb print next to your name on the voter rolls when you vote. But if you want to require ID, it's gotta be a system that is phased in over the course of several elections.

 

[drew89]

Depends on the state. In PA, the first time you showed up to vote at a given precinct, you had to show your voter registration card, ID, or some piece of mail addressed to you. You then signed next to your name. The next time you come to vote, you just sign next to your name, and your signature is compared to your previous one. If there's any question about your identity or eligibility, you can be prompted for some sort of identifying document and/or have to submit a provisional ballot.

Ultimately it just comes down to risk vs reward. The risk in getting caught committing in person voter fraud is not worth the reward of a single vote towards your candidate. If fraud is gonna happen, it's not going to happen via voter impersonation at the polls. At least not at any sort of a significant level or, IMO, any level that would mean the number of fraudulent votes prevented exceeds the number of legitimate voters who are prevented from voting due to lack of ID.

Not a fan of the idea of needing to show ID, but I'm for putting a thumb print next to your name on the voter rolls when you vote. But if you want to require ID, it's gotta be a system that is phased in over the course of several elections.

A thumbprint sounds even worse than a voter ID...

 

[NightHawkeye]

They sign their name, geez. No one can sign their name twice in the same election, didn't you know that?

So, they sign someone else's name. It happens ... as evidenced by the alphabetically ordered voters in LBJ's election.

Perhaps you're suggesting that we should have signature checking?

Without proper id, how do we know a person doesn't vote multiple times? How do we know there isn't wide scale voter fraud? Illegals voting?

There are also plenty of instances where people vote in two states like New Jersey and Florida. Snow birds like to take advantage of that.

By the way, was Texas on the roster for VRA requirements prior to the over turning of the outdated law that was signed the year I was born?
If it wasn't then it was mere coincindence.

Texas had their voter ID law overturned by the courts recently, specifically because Texas was a VRA state, even though their voter ID law was identical to Indiana's law. Indiana didn't have a problem.

 

[Billnew]

That question implies that voter ID is a safeguard at all. In-person voter fraud is so rare as to be practically non-existant. Voter fraud in general is rare and only a small number of cases are committed in-person. The vast majority of voter fraud is committed via absentee ballots and ID's do nothing to prevent that.

One has to wonder what the motivation behind voter ID laws that might prevent a handful of voter fraud cases per election nationally while ignoring the most prevelant form of voter fraud.

So you would suggest limiting absentee ballots?

Depends on the state. In PA, the first time you showed up to vote at a given precinct, you had to show your voter registration card, ID, or some piece of mail addressed to you. You then signed next to your name. The next time you come to vote, you just sign next to your name, and your signature is compared to your previous one. If there's any question about your identity or eligibility, you can be prompted for some sort of identifying document and/or have to submit a provisional ballot.

Ultimately it just comes down to risk vs reward. The risk in getting caught committing in person voter fraud is not worth the reward of a single vote towards your candidate. If fraud is gonna happen, it's not going to happen via voter impersonation at the polls. At least not at any sort of a significant level or, IMO, any level that would mean the number of fraudulent votes prevented exceeds the number of legitimate voters who are prevented from voting due to lack of ID.

Not a fan of the idea of needing to show ID, but I'm for putting a thumb print next to your name on the voter rolls when you vote. But if you want to require ID, it's gotta be a system that is phased in over the course of several elections.

Accorn was faulted with registering the same person several times, and other accusations.
So what is to prevent a person registering a disinterested illegal with their id, and "forgetting"to have them sign their card the first time? Then signs it after they leave. Then goes to each polling place and votes several times signing each individuals name as he votes multiple times? No id is required and the sigs match.

Picture id would ensure each person is who they claim to be.
Commonly I show my driver license to check in to vote, but I don't think its required.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Texas had their voter ID law overturned by the courts recently, specifically because Texas was a VRA state, even though their voter ID law was identical to Indiana's law. Indiana didn't have a problem.

Indiana didn't have a record of this sort of thing -- as you've already demonstrated, Texas does.

 

[variant]

Not a fan of the idea of needing to show ID, but I'm for putting a thumb print next to your name on the voter rolls when you vote. But if you want to require ID, it's gotta be a system that is phased in over the course of several elections.

Indeed, there are fair ways to be more strict about voting ID and then there are ways to make it so that it is harder for people you don't want voting (but have every right to vote) to vote.

Many of the laws were specifically the latter.

 

[Boondock_Saint]

This is a victory for all Americans. It's constitutional people!