Voter ID Charade
March 12, 2009
Proponents of the so-called voter ID bill wanted to make a point to the political base back home: We won't let liars and cheats steal elections in Texas. Never mind that in the years that the emotionally charged issue has stalked the Legislature, no one has made a convincing case that impersonation at the polls is a problem in this state.
Written by Editorial, The Dallas Morning News
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
Chalk up the Texas Senate's nearly 24-hour wrangle over voter IDs as crass politics trumping thoughtful public policy.
Proponents of the so-called voter ID bill wanted to make a point to the political base back home: We won't let liars and cheats steal elections in Texas.
Never mind that in the years that the emotionally charged issue has stalked the Legislature, no one has made a convincing case that impersonation at the polls is a problem in this state.
A rational person might consider it a non-issue. But self-interested politics clouds the judgment, and conservative lawmakers see an opening to make a get-tough statement. Others may be driven by fear of being labeled soft on election fraud by the next campaign opponent.
Either way, the Senate voted yesterday to mess with a sound, tested system of casting ballots on Election Day. Today, a registered Texas voter receives a ballot upon presenting his or her registration card to poll workers. It's that simple, as it should be to exercise a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
Self-congratulatory supporters of the voter ID bill might want voters to think they are creating an airport-like security system. Not so. Under the bill, a person must show registration card plus photo ID. Lose the card? Don't have an ID? Then a telephone bill and library card will do, similar to the fallback system used at the polls today.
That doesn't stop Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst from proclaiming that the bill moves Texas "one step closer to a more secure voting system that will help us prevent voter fraud and instill greater confidence among all Texans." Please.
Defenders of the current system rightly focus on Texans who have no photo ID and, perhaps, no other identifying papers that match up perfectly with the registration card. Surveys show that such voters are overwhelmingly female and poor.
After an expected final vote in the Senate, the emotional debate moves to the House. We hope the new leadership team there, including Speaker Joe Straus and Calendars Committee chairman Brian McCall, can see that the illusory gains are not worth the squandered time and goodwill in the Capitol. Someone should end this charade.
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