Voter ID Bill To Get House Vote

One of the most divisive bills introduced in the Texas legislature this year is the Voter ID bill. It would require a voter to show a photo ID in addition to a voter registration before they could vote in any election. The bill passed the senate last March on a straight party-line vote.

Republicans say they want to prevent voter fraud (even though they have been unable to show that any such fraud exists in Texas), while Democrats believe it is little more than an effort to suppress voting. They say the bill would primarily affect the elderly and the poor, who are more likely to be without a photo ID. These groups are more likely to vote Democratic.

Since March, the bill has been in the House Elections committee. Chairman of the committee Todd Smith (R-Euless) has tried to get a compromise bill that both parties could accept. He wanted to delay the effective date of the bill and make a concerted effort to register voters and help them get the appropriate ID.

That was a compromise that Democrats would probably have accepted, but the Republicans would not hear of it. They wanted no part of a plan that would register and ID more voters. That makes it pretty obvious that what the Democrats have been saying is correct. This is not a bill to prevent fraud, but a bill to suppress Democratic votes.

On Monday, the bill survived a 5-4 committee vote, and now will go before the full House for a vote (without any compromise amendments). Will it pass? That's the question right now, and both parties are pushing hard -- the Republicans to pass it and the Democrats to defeat it. The Texas House has 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats, so it would only take a couple of moderate Republicans to kill the bill.

Rep. Smith believes the bill has a good chance of being defeated. He said, "The question is how many people want or care about satisfying the reasonable concerns on the other side of the partisan aisle. If there aren't more than a handful then we may simply have a very divisive vote, in my opinion, that is likely to fail."

I hope Smith is right, and the vote fails. But I'm going to have my fingers crossed, because it should be a very close vote and could go either way. I just hope there are two or three House Republicans that actually believe all citizens have the right to vote -- even the poorest ones.