Data discrepancy delays Texas voter ID trial

[TexasTowelie]

CORPUS CHRISTI - The State of Texas' legal team still plans to wrap up its defense of the voter ID law in federal court Thursday, but it will be a while before the two sides make their final pleas to the judge.

Closing arguments were delayed Wednesday after a data discrepancy was discovered this week. Originally slated for Thursday, the closing arguments are rescheduled for Sept. 22 so some experts who provided reports for the trial can reanalyze their data.

The trial is over Senate Bill 14, a law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 that requires Texans to show certain forms of state or federal photo identification before casting a ballot. Opponents say it forces an undue burden on minority and low-income voters, and supporters say requiring photo ID is already commonplace in American society.

The data issue comes from a category of about 183,000 voters in the Texas voter registration database who have surrendered their driver's licenses. The opponents' experts counted those individuals as lacking a license, and therefore unable to vote if they don't possess one of the other forms of approved identification.

Read more: http://www.caller.com/news/politics/state-elections/data-discrepancy-delays-texas-voter-id-trial_50262303

[4b5f940728b232b034e4]

1. Serious question

How do these 183,000 people without IDs survive in the modern world? In the past week and a half, I had to show mine when I started a new job Monday before last as required by the I-9, at a concert to pick-up my tickets, at a bar to get in, at Wells Fargo to cash my first paycheck from my new job, at Safeway to buy beer, had my DL swiped at a gas station to buy a lottery ticket, at airport security to help a handicapped friend board a plane, at Fry's to use my credit card, at the Comcast office to pick-up equipment for new Internet access, at AT&T to renew my cellphone contract(at a lower price!), to a notary to sign off on my load paperwork to refinance my car, at the bank to process the loan, and at a rental car place. I'm in my forties so I assume someone younger is required to show their ID even more often. That's thirteen times in ten days!

I forgot another time. At Red Robin so I could get a free burger on my birthday! I don't know how I forgot about a free burger.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I cannot know for certain, but I think that some of those people are day laborers that are paid in

cash. That frequently occurs for people in trades such as construction and farm labor. Most of them don't have much money anyway so it knocks out most of the list that you mentioned. The most likely use is to buy beer and that is easy enough to circumvent.

I've only had to show my ID twice when the last week and one of those times was because I was being harassed by the local police when I went for a walk while the other time I was applying for indigent care. I had to renew my ID in June since it expired, but in the three months since I did renew it I've only used it about a half-dozen times. I still look young for my age (49), but I don't believe that I can pass for 21 or 31 either.

[Gothmog]

4. There are between 787,000 and 1.2 million Texans without a GOP approved id

These people exist very well. They lack one of the GOP narrow list of approved ids but the GOP selected that list to suppress the vote of groups who tend to vote for democratic candidate. In most cases, these people do not have drivers' licenses because they live in urban areas and rely on mass transportation. These citizens have other forms of identification including social security cards, credit cards. medicaid cards, out of state driver's licences, student id, employer issued card and county issued cards. A citizen can complete a Form i9 without a driver's license or another GOP approved form of identification.

Here is the plank for the Texas Democratic Party Platform on fair ids. http://txdemocrats.bytrilogy.com/pdf/2014-Platform.pdf

FAIR VOTER I.D. REQUIREMENTS

Texas Democrats believe voters should show identification to vote, as they have for more than 20 years. While many Texans can easily reach into their wallet and produce a Texas driver’s license, gun license, military ID, or U.S. Passport to qualify to vote under the SB 14 law, many other U.S. citizens eligible to vote in Texas do not have one of the limited types of I.D. required under the voter photo I.D. law:
18 percent of elderly citizens.
15 percent of voters earning less than $35,000.
18 percent of citizens aged 18-24 do not have an I.D. with their current address and name.
10 percent of voters with disabilities.
25 percent of African-Americans
Hispanic citizens are between 46%to 120% more likely not to have one of the SB14 I.D.’s

We oppose any law that could make it more difficult for a qualified citizen to exercise their right to vote. Allegations of in-person voter impersonation fraud get big headlines. What does not get headlines is the fact that nearly all allegations of voter fraud turn out to be clerical errors, data matching mistakes, or misunderstandings. In reality, voter impersonation fraud is extremely rare.

Texas Democrats call for the return of sensible voter I.D.requirements that have long given Texas fair and honest elections:

Texas Voter Registration Certificate;
A driver’s license or personal identification card issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety or similar documents from other states;
 A form of identification containing a photograph that establishes a person’s identity (such as an employee or student identification card);
A birth certificate or other document confirming birth that is admissible in a court of law and establishes a person’ s identity;
United States citizenship papers;
AUnited States passport;
Official mail addressed to the person by name from a governmental agency;
A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter; or
Any other form of identification presented by the Secretary of State’s office.

There was testimony from a number of witnesses n the Texas voter id trial from citizens who did not have one of the GOP approved forms of identification. These people live full and productive lives without one of the narrow list of identification documents required by the Texas GOP

[Gothmog]

3. The State of Texas has not done a good job in this trial

Battleground Texas has an observer down in Corpus and the Brennan Center has been providing daily updates of this trial. The state did not present evidence of voter fraud at all and is relying on some strange interpretation of the Crawford case that the trial count has already rejected.

[They_Live]

5. Don't forget married women

with a name change that doesn't match their ID. They have to jump through hoops to get their vote counted, and I see it happen every time I vote now, at least once each time.