Hoist with their own petard: Texas voter ID law

Notice how a concealed carry permit is allowed as an ID but a college ID isn't even though, up until this year, a college ID was an acceptable form of ID? Not surprisingly gun nuts vote Republican so the Republicans bent over backwards to make sure those people could vote but college student don't vote Republican so they went out of their way to make sure college students couldn't vote.

If it's a tiny minority you can work around it. The pro-illegals/election fraud want to use any problems as reasons to throw the whole thing out.

Yep. Amazing, isn't it?

Actually, it's about the arbitrary restrictions continuously put on electors to deter voting, of which ID laws are one component. There's been a real push over the last twenty years to curb the rights of voters either outright or indirectly, from intimidation to restricting ballot access.

We really ought to start enforcing the 14th Amendment and start stripping states of their Congressmen for these schemes.

The college vs permit distinction is shameless.

But I'd think married women would be at least as likely to vote Republican, no?

Supposedly, according the NPR article I linked to above, they do get to vote but only on a provisional ballot and that provisional ballot will be thrown out in one week unless they submit still more paper work. Oh, and no one at the election station actually has to tell them that so many (most?) of them will go home thinking they voted and never learn that the vote was in fact thrown out.

Is that really possible? If so then hell, yes, that is exactly what should be happening. They want to prevent people from voting? Fine, but they lose their reps and senate votes until they stop that shit.

It's not just married women but also divorced women and women who have been remarried. They're all going to have major problems trying to vote in Texas so we really are talking about the majority of the female population of Texas.

You know, just last year the governor of Texas called a special session of the legislature so they could attempt to outlaw abortion for the 1 billionth time so, if they wanted to, they could call a special session to fix this. If they don't do that, if they refuse to fix this, well, then an honest person has to conclude that this is exactly what the Republicans intended to happen. They pull this shit then claim they don't have a war on women, bullshit.

As a voting block, a greater percentage of women vote Democratic than Republican, so a law that disenfranchises some women will likely disproportionately impact the Democratic vote. Going further, taking the husband's last name is more traditional and therefore more common among conservatives. Among liberals, it's still common enough, but most women who retain their maiden surname (which the license will not reflect) tend to be more liberal.

But IIUC, the problem arises once a woman marries, and with every woman that marries -- whether she takes her husband's name or not. So the only women not affected would be those that stay single. My intuition would be that they would be less likely to vote R than those in a traditional marriage -- but perhaps the general tendency to vote D for women outweighs that. I don't know.

Another aspect might be to consider which women are more likely to have the time, bureaucratic competence and energy to provide additional paperwork after they voted. Either way, the whole thing is just horrid.

If the argument for these kinds of laws is that the US practically already has a national ID card system and it is ok to connect a citizen's most basic political right to their possession of such an ID card, the thing to do is make it official, introduce an actual functioning universal ID card system and only then, once you know it works, restrict voting to those that can identify themselves through it. Any argument against compulsory ID cards is automatically an argument against these laws.

Packard I'm pretty sure you can get a state issued picture ID regardless of whether you drive or not. Considering that elections are run by the states, that should be all you need.

Why do you hate the poor? Jesus never had 45 dollars or a photo I.D. - do you hate him too?

I'm not sure I can get behind any sort of fee being involved. Reeks to much of property qualifications and poll taxes.

I'm sure they will protest it while they play with their iPhone.

Just re-upped my passport and filled out all the stuff for Flows. They had long lists of things you could use for you to prove you we're who you were.

You really can't imagine that having or not having $45 is relevant to some people?

Meh, you can get an iphone with a $25/mth phone and data plan. Some sort of phone is an essential to ever working, so...

Meanwhile, voting is pretty much your most basic right... should someone have to decide between 2 month's of being able to communicate and exercising their vote?

So getting a gadget phone is essential but getting an ID isn't.

Come to think of it...how much ID do you have to show to get an iPhone and plan?


This is why the "no id's" crowd really isn't taken seriously. You try to pretend people are too destitute to get an id then you defend the "poor" getting iPhones.

But in this case, such an identification doesn't even work for women married before 1985.

I can imagine that that is generally a strawman used by the "no id's ever" crowd.

You can't function without id in society

No amount of screaming "poll tax" is ever going to change that.

Believe it or not, there are people who don't fit your stereotypes. So when you raise the straw man, what you are saying is you don't mind disenfranchising some citizens to appease your anger at the mythical welfare queen.

I get that, but its a Texas problem. It has fuck all to do with elections in Massahoma.

Its not like this was a national level fuck up, effecting the lives if millions across the country. They'll figure something out.

According to my sil who just got married and changed her ID over in Dallas this is no longer the case. So how about they change their name over either now and get a new DL or when they re-up their DL they change it. Paperwork sucks but if you want to vote then you need to go through the paperwork before that day. If they didn't realize it before Election Day then they need to fix it before the next Election Day. Either through changing their DL or changing their name with the voters registration.

I've had to go home and get my license and come back to vote here, even though the ladies know me. Not a problem.

You know, some of you should get a clue, when people who normally support liberal views tell you it's wierd you don't have to show ID to vote.

You can keep shouting disenfranchise and poll tax allyou want, it won't make it true. You all have brainwashed yourselves into thinking some conspiracy exists to keep people from voting. It doesn't make it a fact.