May 27, 2005
Rodney Ellis to the rescue?

Despite widespread opposition to Mary Denny's voter-suppression amendment to SB89, bill sponsor Sen. Kip Averitt appears to be set to let it come to the floor for a vote.


The bill's supporters, including state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor, disagreed that the amendment would discourage turnout. Averitt sponsored the original bill giving election officials the right to access electronic information from a driver's license. State Rep. Mary Denny, R-Flower Mound, later tacked on the photo ID amendment.

"I've read the bill," Averitt said. "I don't think it's going to cause people to not go vote. Matter of fact, I believe just the opposite is going to happen."

Denny called the opposition's fear that the plan could discourage people from voting "an erroneous argument."

"Almost everybody has some form of ID," Denny said. "I find this to be not a burden in any way."


Putting aside the fact that EVERY citizen is born with the right to vote regardless of what ID they carry, Averitt's assertion is pure baloney. The level of dishonesty and anti-Constitutionalism on this proposal is really appalling, and what's worse is that this amendment may make it through without any real attention being paid to it in the major media.

There is some good news, however. State Sen. Rodney Ellis is preparing to filibuster this atrocity.


Late word from the Texas Senate: Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has informed colleagues he plans to filibuster the final approval of SB 89, the voter-ID bill.

The bill becomes eligible for consideration at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Ellis’ plan, according to several senators, is to filibuster the measure into Sunday, when other Democrats will pick up the talkathon.

[...]

Any filibuster this late in the session could kill off any bills that have not already been passed. And since that list includes much of the Big Stuff — school finance reform, transportation, the budget — Ellis’ threat is being taken seriously by the leadership.


I sure hope they are, since this can't possibly be worth it to them, not when there's so many other bills still up in the air. Ellis may have to go it alone all day on Saturday, and I truly hope he's up to it. I'll be calling his office to offer my thanks and encouragement. Feel free to join me.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 27, 2005 to That's our Lege | TrackBack
Comments

Sen Ellis will be ably assisted by other Democratic senators as he tries to thwart this latest Tom DeLay/Karl Rove-engineered effort to artificially tilt the political balance to the GOP.

Posted by: Marty Jackson on May 27, 2005 10:20 PM

US Constitution, Amendment XXVI, Section 1:
"The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."

Mary Denney's assault on the elder vote violates the 26th Amendment in two ways. First, it has a disportonate effect on elder voters. Second, it classifies voters by age, applying only to those under 85.

We need to claim this Amendment on behalf of elder voters. I was a proud member of the age group who won the right to vote when faced with the draft, and proudly cast my first vote as a consequence for George McGovern. It would be entirely fitting that the work of the young people of the 70's should, through the last clause of the 26th Amendment, "on account of age," have lasting import for our senior voters.

Go, Senator Ellis!

Posted by: Othniel on May 28, 2005 3:58 AM

the fact that EVERY citizen is born with the right to vote regardless of what ID they carry

The right to vote says nothing whatsoever about the right to not have to prove that you are a validly registered voter.

It is also the right of every citizen to ensure that their precious vote is not cancelled by another voting fraudulently.

You show your ID at the cash register... why are Democrats so reluctant to verify their identity at the voting booth?

Posted by: x on May 28, 2005 4:58 PM

Why are Republicans so anxious to keep Democrats and others out of the voting Booth? As the Debate on the House floor clearly showed, the real potential for voter fraud is the exclusion from the voting process of authentic, registered and qualified voters by overzealous pollworkers looking for any excuse to denigrate a ballot to provisional status in order to facilitate its eventual exclusion.
All you need to understand this is to recall the image of John Bolton showing up in Florida announcing he is there with the Bush campaign to stop the vote count.
Not one scrap of evidence of someone lying about his or her identity with a voter registration card in hand on election day was presented to the House Committee which studied this matter. The only crisis Mary Denny sees is that her party might lose.

Posted by: Othniel on May 29, 2005 5:10 AM