TCAN

One of the most frightening things we have observed in watching the goings-on in the Texas House’s Election Committee hearings is the use of scare tactics to promote legislation that restricts voting.

Voter restriction advocates claim there is rampant voter fraud (people voting under a false identification or voting for a dead person, etc., not election fraud as is suspected in Ohio and Florida) and that the sanctity of the ballot is being violated. I’ve heard numerous anecdotal cases of fraud happening all over Texas. They want to “fix” this with legislation that would require anyone who moves to provide proof of citizenship—even if they have been registered and have voted for years. In these measures, your word is not enough any more: if they have their way you will have to have at least two forms of ID in order to vote.

Furthermore, many elderly, disabled, and non-drivers-licensed citizens who are eligible to vote will be required to obtain copies of birth certificates, passports, or citizenship papers to register, and positive forms of ID from the Department of Public Safety to vote. These proposed laws will most certainly cost people time and money, and the inconvenience will reduce if not completely end existing voter registration programs. The result may be a serious voting deterrent.

The House Elections Committee has heard testimony from the Secretary of State’s Office (which oversees the elections process and gathers complaints of voter fraud) and the Attorney General’s office (which is tasked with investigating and prosecuting confirmed cases). Both explained that there have been NO cases of voter fraud that were worth pursuing as a violation of our current voting laws in the last few election cycles. The significant fact to consider is that this zero fraud record stands in the face of over 20 million votes that have been cast in the last six years in Texas—with NO occurrences of voter fraud.

This certainly begs the question: What is the real agenda behind this one-sided effort to create more identification checks on voters and people wanting to register to vote?

On a related matter: Texas has never ratified the 24th Amendment to our U.S. Constitution, which does away with the poll tax and protects people’s access to the voting process. TCAN urges the ratification of the 24th Amendment in this session of the Texas Legislature and the rejection of these multiple ID voter bills as a show of unequivocal support for the freedom of all Texans to exercise their right to vote.

—John Courage