In Texas, it is fine to use a concealed handgun carry permit to vote, but not a Student ID [View all]

[n2doc]

Texas has one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the nation. In 2012 a federal court struck down Texas’ ID law, ruling it would potentially disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of minority voters.

But that federal decision was invalidated when the Supreme Court last year ruled part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. So now Texas is test driving its Voter ID law.

Texas Judges are accustomed to a certain level of respect, even deference as they go about their daily business in the Lone Star State. So imagine Judge Sandra Watts’ surprise when she went to cast her vote last week and was told there was a problem.

“What I have used for voter registration and identification for the last 52 years was not sufficient yesterday when I went to vote,” Watts says.

Why? Because Watts’ name on her driver’s license lists her maiden name as her middle name. But on the state voting rolls, her real middle name is there, and that’s difference enough to cause a problem.


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http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-texas-voter-id-law-creates-a-problem-for-some-women/