Voter ID Bill Up For Vote This Week

Republicans have been running scared since their devastating defeat in the last election. Even in states like Texas that have recently been safe territory for Republicans, they are seeing their once safe lead disappear. There is even serious talk of Democrats taking control of the state House of Representatives and possibly even winning the U.S. Senate seat after Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns to run for governor.

This has resulted in the Republicans trying to suppress the Democratic vote by passing a new Voter ID bill. The bill would require all voters to produce a photo ID in addition to a voter's registration before they would be allowed to vote.

Republicans claim the bill is to prevent voter fraud, but they have been unable to come up with any proof that Texas has a problem with voter fraud. As Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) says, "More people have been struck by lightning than have been convicted or charged with voter impersonation or fraud."

The truth is that the bill is nothing but a desparate attempt by Republicans to suppress Democratic voters. The bill would primarily affect poor voters and the elderly, as those are the groups that are less likely to be able to produce the photo IDs. They are also the groups more likely to vote Democratic.

And the House Democrats are gearing up to fight the bill with everything they have. Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) says, "If anyone doubts our resolve to protect the voting rights of our constituents, they are sadly mistaken. It's a very serious issue, anytime you are trying to prevent people from voting."

The Texas House is almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. There are 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats. It would only take one or two Republicans to vote against the bill to give the Democrats a victory and kill the bill. That is a possibility, according to Rep. Todd Smith (R-Euless).

But that is not the only weapon in the arsenal of the Democrats. If they cannot win the vote outright, there is talk of the Dems taking a little road trip, denying the House a quorum of members. Without a quorum, a vote cannot be taken on the bill. It's not as if the Democrats have never done that either. They went to Ardmore, Oklahoma in 2003 to try and stop congressional redistricting.

With only about 10 days left in this legislative session, a quorum-busting road trip would probably kill more than just the Voter ID bill. There are several other bills that sponsors are trying to get a vote on before the session ends, and a trip out-of-state would end the possibility those bills would get a hearing on the floor or a vote.

Just how bad do the Republicans want to suppress the vote? Are they willing to risk other bills? This hasn't been the most exciting session of the legislature so far, but it looks like it's coming down to an exciting last few days.

I just hope the Democrats are serious about pulling out all the stops to kill this terrible Voter ID bill.