Texas Department of Public Safety opening Mobile Stations to Process Voter IDs

[Gothmog]

It appears that Greg Abbott and the State of Texas is worried. In Georgia and a couple other states, the DOJ forced the state to agree to have mobile stations to process the free voter id so as to get pre-clearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. I was a speaker at some town halls held by Congressman Al Green on voter id and one of the other speakers was the spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The DPS spokesperson told the town hall that the DPS did not have the money and did not plan to have mobile stations for processing voter ids.

The DOJ and the plaintiffs in the voter id litigation have mentioned the lack of mobile stations in their pleadings and it appears hat Greg Abbott is worried enough to cause the DPS to reverse course on this issue. http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/dps-roll-out-mobile-stations-process-voter-ids-13430.shtml

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday it is offering another way for potential voters to obtain a photo ID needed to vote.

Twenty-five mobile locations will begin processing the election identification certificates on Oct. 1. The documents, which are free for applicants who meet voter requirements and show proof of identity and citizenship, are also available at driver's license offices.

Tuesday's announcement follows a DPS decision two weeks ago to extend the hours of about 50 driver's license offices to include Saturday to encourage more citizens to apply for the documents.

The DPS and the State of Texas (i.e. Greg Abbott) is trying to answer some of the issues raised in the voter id lawsuit. I doubt that these efforts will change the course of this litigation.

[denverbill]

1. 'show proof of identity and citizenship'. I thought that was illegal.

I'm positive Arizona's law was shot down because of the requirement to 'prove' citizenship.

[Gothmog]

3. That case dealt with voter registration

Texas and other states can require proof of citizenship for voting and getting drivers' licenses. The SCOTUS decision only related to voter registration. Currently in Texas, you can register a voter even though they do not have the required photo id. Under federal law, a first time voter who did not provide a social security number or drivers' license can be required to show id before voting for the first time.

The SCOTUS decision that you mentioned was related to the State of Arizona's attempt to add a citizenship proof in order to registered. Arizona's requirement would be in addition to and conflict with the federally approved form of voter registration that is authorized by Federal law.

In Texas, you have to provide proof of citizenship to get a new drivers' license. You do not have to provide proof of citizenship to get a concealed carry permit in Texas and that is also one of the approved forms of photo id allowed under the Texas voter suppression law. http://www.juanitajean.com/2011/09/18/texas-handgun-permit/

....Only one of those five items does not require you to produce proof of citizenship.

It’s the license to carry. You do not have to prove citizenship to get a license to carry a gun in Texas. On September 10, 2001 Mohamed Atta could have gotten a license to carry in Texas.

[Downwinder]

2. This is getting ridiculous.

I had to take my passport to get a library card today.

[Gothmog]

4. Abbott and the GOP are scared

Back when SB14 was being debated in the Texas Legislature, the Democrats in both the House and the Senate proposed a large number of amendments to lessen the impact of this law. These changes were all ignore and rejected. Now that the Department of Justice is suing and in such lawsuit point out the problems being caused by SB14, the GOP and Greg Abbott are now willing to be reasonable. http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20130925-editorial-shakedown-for-silly-voter-id-law.ece

In muscling through their bill, Republicans rejected amendments from Democrats that would have mandated extended office hours and other steps similar to those announced recently to make the new voter IDs easier to get.

So why are Republican leaders in Austin just now recognizing that the photo ID law might work an unfair hardship on poor people and hourly workers, some of whom face a 250-mile round trip to reach a driver’s license office?

Could it be that top agency officials saw the fine print of a lawsuit Attorney General Eric Holder filed last month to try to block the voter ID law? Holder specifically cited the defeated amendments aimed at overcoming inconveniences and transportation costs associated with getting the new voter ID.

The fact that GOP is now willing to be reasonable when they realize that they are going to lose this litigation is amusing.