Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst listens as Sen. Troy Fraser introduces his bill on Tuesday. 'Voter fraud not only is alive and well in the United States,' Fraser said. 'It's also alive in Texas.'

Associated Press: Republicans won their first Texas Senate vote today on a bill that would impose tougher identification requirements on voters.

A special Senate panel, which includes all 31 senators and Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, approved the legislation along straight party lines in a 20-12 vote.

The decision all but assures the voter ID plan will pass and be sent to the Texas House as early as Monday.

Democrats have promised a legal challenge if the bill ultimately passes. They've compared the proposal to a modern-day poll tax.

Republicans say the ID requirements, which would take effect in time for the 2010 elections, are necessary to stop voter fraud.

Texans already must show either a voter registration card or other identification. Republicans want to add the requirement of a photo ID or alternatives that establish identity.

The Voter ID bill is SB362.

Austin American Statesman: State senators heard testimony from selected expert witnesses Tuesday as they revisited a politically volatile proposal requiring Texas voters to identify themselves at the polls with a photo ID or other documents.

Despite maneuvering by Democrats to try to stall the bill, the Senate result isn't in doubt because Republicans tweaked the body's rules in January to all but guarantee they'll advance the measure to the House.

But the hearing gave senators renewed opportunity to accuse opponents of misrepresenting aspects of the voter ID debate that has suffused statehouses across the country in recent years.

It also showed how well activists on both sides turned out their supporters. Leaders of the Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party of Texas tried to fan citizens' interest in the Senate's unusual gathering as a committee of the whole.

And though more than 130 people had signed up by mid-afternoon for a chance to speak, there wasn't the standing-room-only turnout that some activists had predicted. In the Senate's overhead gallery, which didn't fill, supporters of the voter ID legislation (clad in red, as urged by the GOP) sat alongside others, all of them quietly watching senators joust.

Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, insisted Tuesday that his Senate Bill 362 is pivotal to warding off and cutting down voter fraud.

"Voter fraud not only is alive and well in the United States, it's also alive in Texas," Fraser said. "I believe the dangers of voter fraud has threatened the entire electoral process."

Democrats, including Austin Sen. Kirk Watson and Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the San Antonio chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, suggested there's no crisis of Texas voters impersonating other voters. They said the push for voter ID is a sneaky move intended to reduce elderly and minority turnout, also putting Texas at risk of violating the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

While Texans already must show either a voter registration card or other identification, Republicans want to add the requirement of a photo ID or two alternative forms of identification, such as utility bills or bank statements.

"Not only will voter ID help prevent fraudulent voting, but where it has been implemented, it has not reduced turnout," testified Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department attorney and Federal Elections Commission member who is now with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "There is no evidence that voter ID decreases the turnout of voters or has a disparate impact on minority voters, the poor or the elderly.

"The overwhelming majority of Americans have photo ID or can easily obtain one," he said.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, challenged those assertions, accusing von Spakovsky of partisanship and noting that his eventual nomination by the Bush administration to the Federal Elections Commission was blocked. One of those who challenged his positions in 2007: then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

Shapleigh also noted that von Spakovsky signed off on the 2003 Texas redistricting fight that split the Legislature and caused Democrats to walk out.

Von Spakovsky responded that his detractors' claims contained "misperceptions and outright lies."

He characterized their challenge as against "a fictional person they say is me, but it is not."

Von Spakovsky said his positions regarding voter ID and the Voting Rights Act have since been upheld by courts.

Contrasting von Spakovsky's views was Tova Wang, a vice president for research at the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause. She testified that the issue of voter fraud has been overblown and warned that the passage of voter ID will trigger new issues, in addition to costing Texas taxpayers millions of dollars.

"Most states don't have voter ID laws or have a problem with voter fraud, as Texas does not have a problem with voter fraud," she said. "There's just simply no evidence of it."

Democratic strategist Ed Martin, monitoring the debate, pointed out that non-partisan groups including the League of Women Voters of Texas and AARP oppose the change.

"People think there's more important things we could be doing," such as work on education, health care and the state budget, Martin said. "We agree with them."

Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats tried unsuccessfully to delay the hearing with parliamentary maneuvers that were rebuffed by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, the Senate's president pro tempore.

The proposal is otherwise expected to advance to the House as soon as next week because Republicans, who hold a 19-12 Senate edge, tweaked Senate rules at the start of the session to permit action on the voter ID issue without hurdling the body's typical two-thirds' threshold before taking action. The first of a series of votes on the bill could be taken today.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wasn't planning to testify, a spokesman has said, because he'd represent the state in any litigation arising from the change in law. But Eric Nichols, deputy attorney general for criminal justice, was expected to testify either Tuesday night or today, officials said.

Additional material from the Associated Press.