Senate Listens to Huge Majority of Texans and Passes Senate Bill 362
AUSTIN The Texas Senate passed on second reading Senate Bill 362 a voter identification bill that will create a more secure election process while ensuring elderly and low income Texans who are eligible to vote are able to do so with minimal difficulty.
SB 362 has now cleared the last major hurdle on the Texas Senate before it is sent to the Texas House following a final third reading vote tomorrow.
While in their Committee of the Whole last week the Texas Senate heard from supporters and opponents of the bill ultimately voting it out of committee after a solid 23 hours of testimony and debate.
SAFE Texas a coalition of Texans dedicated to ensuring security and fairness in the election process praised Senator Troy Fraser for sponsoring SB 362 and shepherding it through the Senate process.
Senator Fraser and the Senators who voted for the bill have stood up for Texans who are concerned about vote fraud and voter impersonation" said Bill Noble a spokesman for the coalition.
Expert witnesses supporting the bill demonstrated the difficulty in detecting and deterring voting fraud under the current system and debunked objections raised by opponents of this common sense bill. SB 362 is a major step forward in helping to detect and deter election fraud and assure Texas elections are secure and fair."
Senate Bill 362 is modeled on a U.S. Supreme Court approved version of an Indiana voter ID law and gives greater anti-fraud protections while granting exceptions for voters without photo ID. This makes the bill even less restrictive than the Indiana Law in that it provides alternatives to a photo ID such as presenting a utility bill or marriage license.
Tom Wheeler Chairman of the Indiana State Election Commission who testified in support of SB 362 before the Senate last week said: In Indiana we knew that there had been massive voter registration fraud. However because we also knew that every voter had to produce a photo ID at the poll we had faith that these fraudulent registrants did not vote in person."
Senate Bill 362 ensures that voters are who they say they are a concept that the vast majority of Texans are in favor. According to Wheelers testimony on his experience with the voter ID law in Indiana: The voter ID laws may not prevent all fraud but they do give the electorate a reason to have faith that all votes cast were cast appropriately and properly."
Texans of all backgrounds and ethnicities support a more secure election process. An October 2008 Rasmussen survey found 88 percent of likely Texas voters 95 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of Democrats agreed voters should be required to show photo ID to vote. This statistic is consistent across ethnicities and is one of many sources sited by SAFE Texas that show broad based support from Texans for reasonable common sense voter ID laws that provide for more accurate elections. More information on the widespread support for voter photo ID can be found on SAFEtexas.org.
Texans and lawmakers at last weeks hearing heard from expert witnesses with first hand experience on voter ID laws who successfully debunked the arguments of the opposition.
Hans von Spakovsky a legal scholar with the Heritage Foundation and former Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission said: Not only does voter ID help prevent fraudulent voting but where it has been implemented it has not reduced voter turnout. 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 voter ID or can easily obtain one."
The state with the strictest voter ID laws Indiana has experienced unprecedented voter turnout among Democrats since passing voter ID laws dispelling the myth that traditionally Democratic voters will be less likely to vote if ID laws are implemented.
Of the states that already have some form of voter ID laws none have reported any problems.
Frank Strickland a former Georgia election board member and litigator of vote fraud cases in Georgia testified on Georgias voter ID experience in court in 2006: The plaintiffs inability to produce a single voter who would be adversely impacted by the law was important in the determination that there was no significant burden posed by the photo ID law."
Ballot Security Facts
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Indianas Voter Photo ID in April 2008. (for more information see Voter-Identification Law Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court or High Court Upholds Indiana Law On Voter ID )
In every election that has occurred since states have begun to implement Voter ID requirements there has been overwhelming evidence that it does not suppress" the turnout of voters. In fact in the 2008 election the two states with the strictest Voter ID requirements Indiana and Georgia saw record numbers of people voting and a 6-8 percent increase among Democratic voters. In that same election states with no Voter ID laws had noticeably lower increases in voter turnout.
To most Texans Voter Photo ID is common sense. You cant cash a check or get on an airplane without photo identification but currently you can vote.
Almost every other industrial democracy in the world requires voter identification including Mexico which includes a Photo ID on the voter registration card.
A Rasmussen Report in October 2008 found 88 percent of likely voters surveyed agreed voters should be required to prove their identity by showing a government issued Photo ID before theyre allowed to vote a statistic which was consistent across ethnicities. A similar poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas in 2008 found 70 of their weighted sample support voter photo ID and was also consistent across ethnicities.
Photo ID Increases Voter Turnout
Experts believe that Voter Photo ID can actually increase voter turn out as citizens come to believe the election process is secure and fair. Contrary to false and hollow arguments of opponents of secure elections states with Voter Photo ID Saw Increased Voter Turnout in 2008 and states without voter photo ID had markedly lower turnout increases.
Georgia experienced record-setting voter turnout in the 2008 election
• Overall turnout increased 6.7
• Democratic turnout increased 6.1
• Indiana has the strictest Voter ID laws
• Overall voter turnout was the fifth highest in the country
• Democratic voter turnout increased 8.32
