Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Texas lawmakers will go head-to-head today in a heated contest over what is arguably the least important issue facing the state today: voter identification. Yes, amid economic, higher education and immigration woes, state legislators feel that preventing voter fraud — for which less than two dozen people were prosecuted in Texas between August 2002 to January 2008, according to the Austin American-Statesman — should take highest precedence.

Senate Bill 362, debated today in a full Senate hearing, would require all voters to present a valid photo identification before voting. Currently, voters are not required to present a photo identification at any point in the voting process. Instead, they can present a voter registration card or another form of identification, such as a driver’s license, utility bill or bank statement linking the voter’s name and address. If a voter cannot present a valid identification, he or she can still cast a provisional ballot. Also, Texas voters do not have to present a photo identification when registering to vote.

Should the bill pass in the Senate and House, it will still be subject to U.S. Department of Justice approval. Seven states currently require photo identification for voters. Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law requiring photo identification. Still, opponents say the bill will disenfranchise minorities and other groups sensitive to past voter discrimination, causing lower voter turnout at the polls and violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

According to the Statesman, the Bill is so hotly debated right now that Republican lawmakers, who hold just under a two-thirds majority in the Texas Senate, changed the body’s rules from allowing bills to be passed by a two-thirds vote to requiring only majority support.

Photo identification is a tricky business. Not everyone has a convenient identification, like a driver’s license, and requiring the presentation of one is another hurdle to exacerbate the problem of low voter turnout.

Tackling voter fraud is important, but only to the extent that the Texas legislature has the time and the resources to address the issue. Unfortunately, the Legislature has a full plate of real issues, like rising unemployment, poor education funding and billions of dollars in stimulus money it needs to dole out. We have no qualms with seeing lawmakers squabble, but we would like to see them squabbling over more pressing issues.