Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

There is so much amiss with the voter identification bill that passed the House this week, it is hard to know what's most offensive.

That it's supposed to be the solution for fraudulent voting, which doesn't even rise to the level of a minor problem in Texas? Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening.

That it seeks to repress minority voting? This bill, if it passes the Senate and becomes law, takes Texas back to the bad old days of poll taxes and literacy tests. It's a voter suppression bill, pure and simple. No matter how much its supporters protest that it's not, the bill is designed to suppress certain groups of voters who tend to vote for Democrats: the poor and elderly and minorities.

That it will lower voter turnout in a state already suffering from weak voter turnout? Last November's hotly contested gubernatorial contest — which featured an incumbent with low approval ratings, a national celebrity, a well-known disaffected GOP state officeholder and a Democrat who had served in Congress — should have enticed voters to the polls.

But only 33.6 percent of registered voters bothered to cast ballots in that race (which is only 26 percent of those eligible to vote). If Texans have to show their registration card, driver's license or two other forms of identification ito vote, many will simply not bother and the disappointing turnout numbers will drop even lower.

The legislation, House Bill 218 authored by Rep. Betty Brown, R-Athens, will discourage thousands of voters on election day to prevent a handful of people from voting illegally. That is political overkill that can only be explained as a partisan Republican attack. The bill passed the House with only Republican votes after six hours of contentious debate. Every Democrat opposed it.

How minor a problem is voter fraud? Attorney General Greg Abbott said there have been few such prosecutions in Texas, and the ones that have been brought were usually for problems with mailed ballots. But the facts haven't deterred Republicans, who see an advantage in this bill.

Another House bill scheduled for debate next week, House Bill 626 by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, may be worse still. It would require every applicant for a voter registration card to prove his and her citizenship. That is, you would have to show a certified birth certificate — not a copy — or passport to register to vote.

Republicans have been working to choose their voters — rather than have the voters choose them — since the bitter redistricting fight four years ago.

The bills pushed by Brown and King further that effort to shrink the number of voters in Texas to better gain advantage for Republicans, particularly incumbents.

Don't count on the federal Voting Rights Act to right this wrong. Under the Bush administration and embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Justice Department isn't likely to challenge these changes if they become the law in Texas. The best hope for Texans is the state Senate.

Senators know these requirements will suppress voting in Texas, and they should see to it that the bills die a quiet death in their chamber.