May 05, 2007
HB218: Disenfranchisement stories

The Texas Democratic Party solicited feedback about people who would be unable to vote if HB218 were to become law. BOR has some of the feedback they got.


From Sondra in Houston:
My grandmother is in her 70's, doesn't drive, doesn't work, and has no form of picture ID. All of the bills are in my grandfather's name and she does not have any of the acceptable forms of non-picture ID. To obtain a certified copy of a birth certificate of marriage license would cost money that my grandparents can't afford to spend just to be allowed to exercise their Constitutional right to vote, which they have been doing for over 50 years already. It doesn't matter whether many people would be harmed by this legislation or just a few. Disenfranchising even 1 single voter is un-America and unacceptable.

[...]

From Katy in Austin:
In my household of 5, there are my son and daughter-in-law, my 90 year old father, my husband and myself. The two who could not vote, denied by me-the judge, would be my son and my father. My son was born with a hole in both ends of all his pockets and loses his cell phone and all his ID too often to count - mothers of sons will recognize this syndrome. My father no longer drives and so does not have a currently valid license - he doesn't need it for his fairly isolated life. None of these have utility bills in their names - they live with me. They are not students, nor do they work for an ID producing entity. None of us has passports or certified copies of birth certificates to prove citizenship. Nor do any receive government checks - Dad's social security check is direct deposited to his bank, and nobody is on the dole.


Basically, these are variations on Royal Masset's mother; there are stories of poor and homeless folks in there, too. This will be the effect of HB218, all in the name of solving a non-existent problem. For shame.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 05, 2007 to That's our Lege
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