Texas Voter ID Law Blocked by DOJ
March 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm in Accountability, GAN, John Cornyn, News, Senate by Kim Robinson 33 Comments
The Department of Justice blocked a new Texas Voter ID law put in place to alleviate voter fraud.
In 1965 the Voting Rights Act was enacted as temporary legislation for certain states. On March 12, 2012, acting under Section 5 of that Act, the U.S. The DOJ claimed the law would disenfranchise minority voters – the same argument Attorney General Eric Holder used to block South Carolina’s voter ID law.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, supports the new law and believes the decision was political. “Voter identification laws are vital to protecting the integrity of the democratic process. Today’s decision reeks of politics and appears to be an effort by the Department of Justice to carry water for the President’s reelection campaign,” he remarked. Given the number of states with similar laws that were cleared to begin immediate enforcement (Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin in 2011 alone) and the fact that the DOJ ordered a Federal District Court Judge to dismiss all complaints against Black Panther Party members who engaged in voter intimidation on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008, in Philadelphia, many agree with him.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry stated, “Texas has a responsibility to ensure elections are fair and accurately reflect the will of voters,” he said. “The DOJ has no valid reason for rejecting this law, which requires nothing more extensive than the type of photo identification necessary to receive a library card or board an airplane. Their denial is yet another example of the Obama Administration‘s continuing and pervasive federal overreach.”
As a state with a history of voter discrimination, Texas is required under Section 5 of the VRA to get advance approval of voting changes. According to the DOJ website the Attorney General’s office receives as many as 22,000 voting change submissions annually. Most submittals are determined to have met the Section 5 standard; the Attorney General has objected to about one percent of the changes submitted.
Texas State officials first asked for preclearance in July 2011. On January 23, 2012, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit against the DOJ, asserting that Section 5 places Texas at a disadvantage. “Texas should be allowed the same authority other states have to protect the integrity of elections. Voter ID laws do not discriminate because they apply to all voters regardless of race.”
News segments discuss regularly whether existing voter laws adequately protect minority, poor, and elderly voters. However, less attention is given to the problem of voter fraud. The right to vote in the U.S. includes the right not to have that vote diluted or negated by fraudulent votes. In Harris County, Texas, voting irregularities have raised serious concerns over election integrity. In 2008, between 160,000 and 333,000 non-citizens were illegally registered to vote in Texas.
The impact of election integrity has been widely researched. One study conducted by University of Missouri in 2006 found that voter turnout improved with the new photo ID requirements. Another study completed by the Universities of Delaware and Nebraska had similar findings, concluding that there was no significant evidence of decreased turnout in precincts with higher percentages of minority, poor or elderly voters.
The DOJ’s objection has the Texas law blocked until a federal panel decides whether Texas will be allowed to enforce it. The day after the DOJ denied Texas authority to enforce, the State filed a request with the panel to submit a petition charging that Section 5 of the VRA “exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.” A lawsuit currently pending before the Federal Appeals Court D.C. Circuit also challenges the constitutionality of Section 5, so it is possible the provision will no longer be on the books in the near future. If the provision were overturned, Texas could change its voting rules without federal approval or interference.
The initial Law was not designed to prevent Voter Fraud. In Fact there have only been 3 Cases ofFraud in the last 8 yers of Elections. The law was put into place by ALEC to Diesenfranchise and Suppress the vote of Minorities, the Elderly and Students. 90-% of them vote Democratic beacuse they are not Duped and Brainwashed by the Lies and GOP Propaganda of Fox “news” and Rush Limbaugh to vote against their own Economic, Social, Environmental or Health Care Reform interests. They are not that Stupid.
Cool-aid is drank by progressive’s that are drunk on socialism for all and government control of everything from property owning or living arangements but I see it as a person that is just lazy and dosn’t have the mind set to make decisions for themselves!
WOW, what planet have you been living on, it certainly hasn’t been EARTH!!!! This law helps insure against voter fraud, no doubt about it. As far as illegals, I’m sorry but my opinion on that is, if your not willing to go through the proper channels to become a tax paying citizen, then you should have no vote. Further more, for people not willing to get voter ID’s is just plain unexcusable. What really gets me boiling mad, is their excuse for not being able to get an ID was that they weren’t able to get to the proper location to get it. I want the DOJ, to explain to me how those same people get to the Welfare and Food Stamp Office, the bank, the grocery store, the doctor’s office, Walmart, and above all, the voting booths themselves, but for some reason they can’t take the same transportation methods to go get an ID. Crap like this truly enrages me.
Bob, are you serious ? Or are you joking a bit ? 3 cases ? What about the ACORN garbage ? Come on, meet us in the middle, I will purchase the first 100 ID cards of people who can not afford them with a few stipulations, the car they drive can not cost more than mine, they can not have a paid for cell phone (need ID to get a cell phone) (and drive a car) they cant have an expensive IPOD, they can not smoke. All of these things are more expensive than a state issued I.D.
The voter-ID law is a reasonable request to safeguard the electoral process. The KS State Voter-ID law requires a photo ID to vote and accommodates those with a religious objection and those on the lower scale of the socioeconomic spectrum to obtain the photo ID. First-time voter registrants are required to submit satisfactory proof of citizenship in Arizona, Georgia, and Kansas, which is defined as a domestic government-issued birth certificate, United States passport, naturalization certificate, and citizenship certificate or any document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Division that substantiates United States Citizenship.
Sorry, but it is not reasonable. You don’t punish the overwhelming majority for the faults of a few (in this case .00004% of all votes cast in the last 12 years were found fraudulent; I’m not making up this number, just google the Pew Research paper citing the facts.) If we did things that way, we’d have no more guns because a bit larger of that same percentage accounts for all homocides caused by guns. Please use logic instead of emotion, all cognitive dissonance aside.
Bob is the one who is brainwashed. Voter ID is a good idea because it will uphold the integrity of the electoral process. All of us, except maybe paranoid leftists, want to prevent voter fraud. It’s the Democrats who are trying to rig elections by putting polling stations in welfare offices and making it difficult for our military personnel abroad to vote by mail. This has nothing to do with civil rights and has everything to do with underhanded Democratic electioneering.
In every election, there are fraudulent votes cast. We need to stop that. If you need photo ID to get a library card, I don’t think it’s too much to ask to say photo ID should be required for casting a ballot.
As a poll worker in Florida, I believe the only way to have a fair and honest election is for picture ID. You must have a picture ID for everything else, why not uphold our nations right to vote honestly ? The DOJ’s actions show contempt for our voting system. Shame on the administration and the DOJ.
I agree with you Barbara. I don’t know what country Bob has been living in. According to people like him, there are millions of legal citizens past the age of 18 who are trying to take part in our so-called society without any form of ID. It’s impossible to do. If you want a job, you need an ID. You want to rent an apartment, let’s see some ID. Are you a student? Not without an ID you’re not. Cigarettes? Beer? Applying for welfare or disability? Cashing a check? Driving a car? Not without an ID, you’re not. Get that weak stuff out of here Bob and get your “common sense” radar fixed and back online. Way to go Barbara.
You must be kidding. ID cards? ID cards are like registration cards. We cannot ID or register guns so please don’t do so with the vote (as if it matters, the USA has not held an election in over 50 years.) The minute we registered our cars, the gov’t took them all from us. Now we have no cars. Then nurses were asked to register and became RNs (gov’t code for Registered Nurses) and they all disappeared. My sister was a nurse and I have not seen her in 25 years all because of that registration. Registering to vote cost us the vote. We need to hold elections again in this country and we can’t if they tag us like deer in hunting season. A voter ID card is nothing more than a laminated square with a magnetic strip that the drones use to track you so they can send down one of those robot birds to bore a hole into the side of your head when you are selected for extinction. Do NOT carry a drivers license, voter ID or register anything for anyone! this includes product warranty registration cards. Those are all sent to Russia and cataloged for a book. Yes, the book they have called “How to Serve Humans” is NOT about manners. It’s a cook book. A COOK BOOK!!!!
Bravo,
You got it right
Illegal’s, dead people and felons all have the right to vote for democrats and Eric Holder is holding Texas to these rights.
@ Bob: If these minority citizens are so smart, why can’t they obtain photo I.D.?
Your Leadership:
San Diego Tea Party Leader Arrested On Kidnapping, Rape Charges
http://www.addictinginfo.org
This former local group member was removed from any association with the San Diego group long ago. He has never had any association with the Tea Party Patriots national group.
Just an anonymous bystander but this guy was a sicko. BUT, believe me there are a lot more LIBS out there that are much more sick than this guy, doing a lot more things that can’t be spoken of. Not that I am sticking up one way or another but I lived in an area of the country where a sex pepophile ring was broken up and some influential news libs were involved and only got slaps on hands…. And you never saw it in paper ever!
Justice department says US govt. under Obama discriminates against Hispanics! Wow! I never thought the justice department would say that the Obama admin requiring travelers to show ID’s to the TSA would be discriminatory against Hispanics but I guess that is what this is saying.
Why doesn’t Texas just accept the same ID docement that everyone uses to purchase cigarettes and booze. That way there is no hardship on anyone. Not that complicated
May I ask, do any of you live in TEXAS because I do… And I vote in TEXAS and you MUST have your LEGAL VOTER CARD and your drivers license with your PICTURE on it to vote… NOW, if that ain’t a picture then I musta been taught some dumb learnin, get it? So this is another lowdown tactic by this administration as usual for the illegal Hispanic vote. Oh and by the way Texas is a large minority state of LEGAL Hispanics….
Voter ID conflicts with the way in which the O-Admin will control the masses through O-don’t-care…
Please look at the attached video link, it will open your eyes, to the O-rwellian world the president would have you live in…
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=HcBaSP31Be8&vg=medium
Obama’s campaign to add additional democratic voters is on track. The blocking of the Texas measure, Arizona’s checking of ID’s and now his approval of the Dream Act will allow thousands of illegals to vote for the Democratic ticket.
His executive order approving the Dream Act is so illegal and unconstitutional its almost laughable, that is if I lived with my head in the sand. Obama’s goal when elected was to dismantle America and our way of life. He is accomplishing that goal. With his authorization of the Dream Act I believe he has almost accomplished his goal. The ramifications of this act will be devastating on us and our way of life.
What would our fore fathers do if faced with this president? I have to believe that they wouldn’t accept these actions . . . so why are we?
Has Obama’s American citizenship been proven?
Alan
Call it like you see it. You are 100% right and we need more folks willing to speak the truth
BOB Sucks. Sorry, but the most polite thing I could say.
So the DoJ will fight a law that simply requires a voter to show an ID, but the same DoJ ignores taped evidence proving Black panthers intimidated white voters and threatened them with violence. The Oscuma administration is blatantly racist as well as marxist, and they should be charged with criminal acts for refusing to enforce the law!
Poor ole Bob still living in some type of 70,s time-warp. Probably because of heavy drug use, that and a too tight ponytail rubber band, Bob was never ever able to stay current and see the truth of things clearly. Sad,Bob and other mindless zombies.are stuck never being able to turn the page forever in some living hell watching their master on MSLSD.
Let’s just have the discussion openly. Should anybody, including a jihadist cross over the border and come to vote in our elections. Obama says yes because He knows the jihadist will vote Democrat. The vast majority of us say no.
Folks need to contact their local Town clerks and register to be poll watchers on election day. When the illegal aliens arrive at the polls in Texas bring your cameras and record the event. Take pictures and record names and addresses. Check the neighbors and see if they know the folks who claim they live at certain addresses.
This great country was made great by law-abiding legal immigrants; not by those who have no respect for the laws of this great nation and think they deserve a free ride.
We need to devise a way to deport these illegals and guard our borders so they don’t invade our land again. By us letting them get away with this we are inviting it as well as others to invade our land as well.
The South Carolina Voter-ID Law was blocked by the D.O.J. because it would disproportionately affect African-American voters. The D.O.J. disregarded the 6-3 Supreme Court decision in Crawford versus Marion County Election Board that pronounced the IN Voter-ID Law constitutional. The Supreme Court Justices who voted to declare the Indiana Voter-ID Law constitutional were: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. The Justices who voted to declare the Indiana Voter-ID Law unconstitutional were: Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Associate Justice David Souter. South Carolina and Texas should have the Voter-ID Laws approved by the Federal District Court in Washington, DC by a three-judge panel.
Proof that teabags hate anyone that isn’t white. Keep sucking from the socialist security trough teabags and steal from our youth. Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!!!
Please this is about getting a low voter turn out that helps the GOP . I have registering voters in Maine for years there are no problems with fraud ,Since when is anyone
about voter fraud . What we want to do is win and if we can keep Democrats from
voting the GOP wins , Now don’t we all feel better now the truth is out
You need ID for every thing from getting food stamps to getting on an airplane. Heck you cannot get Social Security without an ID. You cannot register to get a job or unemployment with an ID.
A biometric voter registration system would also be viable to safeguard the electoral process. The KS Voter-ID Law closes loopholes that current regulations do not solve: proof of identity, proof of citizenship, and proof of residence. Every state that has and has not adopted a Strict Photo and Photo Voter-ID should add a proof-of-citizenship for first time voter registrants to proposed Strict Photo and Photo Voter-ID requisites. AZ, GA, and KS are the three states that adopted proof-of-citizenship for first time voter registrants. The ACRU, American Civil Rights Union, a conservative organization recommends a photo ID for voting in person
The Justice Department rendered an errant and improper decision pertaining to the administrative preclearance of the South Carolina Strict Voter-ID Law that should be reversed by the assigned three-judge panel at the District Court for the District of Columbia under judicial preclearance to grant approval to allow state officials implement and enforce the SC Voter-ID Law. Inaccurate voter registration systems could be exploited and are fraud-prone to commit voter fraud by the assumption of a false identity, pseudonym, or a deceased voter registrant’s identity. A new report on state voter registration systems could be evidence that should be presented by the plaintiff before the assigned three-judge district court panel in the State of South Carolina versus Holder in Washington, DC: Circuit Judge Kavanaugh, Brett M., District Judge Bates, John D., and District Judge Kollar-Kotelly, Colleen. The Pew Center on the States is a non-partisan organization that recently issued a report on February 14th, 2012 that relates to State Voter Registration titled Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient Evidence That America’s Voter Registration System Needs an Upgrade, which is a 12-page PDF publication on election initiatives that could be located and at the Pew Center at this specified website: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Pew_Upgrading_Voter_Registration.pdf. This publication discusses the problems that are experienced on a nationwide basis by the states in terms of voter registration systems. Inflated state voter registration systems are a circumstance that requires election officials to implement verification procedures approved by the state legislature to comply with Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 in addition to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The three-judge panel assigned for the State of Texas v. Holder is Circuit Judge Tatel, David S., District Judge Collyer M., Rosemary, and District Judge Wilkins, Robert L.
Illegals should not be aloud to vote period. Only reason why they would be aloud to do so is because our so called “president” needs votes. Maybe he will actually pull our troops out of where we have no business in the first place and guard our borders. Its time to put an end to this crap and feed our people first and take care of our homeless and quit giving tax breaks, food stamps, medicaid, and our jobs to these illegals. That is why they are coming here by the thousands because they receive all these handouts paid for by our taxes. If we don’t take a stand NOW there won’t be an America for our children. We have the power to put people in office and impeach them out.