Proponents of the law stated that the law was passed in order to prevent voter fraud. However, the court found a lack of evidence proving that this was actually effecting the elections' outcomes. Besides, how many people REALLY care enough to show up and vote with a different name a hundred times.
The law took effect in 2013, until on August 5th, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law has a "discriminatory effect," which violates federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. Now, people may vote if they have identification, whether they do or do not have a photo ID. However, this still poses an issue, considering some cannot easily obtain such identification. In addition, studies show that even those who did possess a valid ID felt discouraged or unsure of voting in the 2014 election due to the law. In my opinion, if you're a citizen of the United States, and of age, you should be able to vote. And not only is it our right to vote, but the current state of our voter turnout is so dismally low that we should be working to get more people to vote rather than passing laws confusing and discouraging them.
Cited: Brennan Center For Justice
On Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 my colleague LoBeau posted a blog titled “Texas Strict Voter ID Law.” In her article she starts off by mentioning that in 2011 the state of Texas passed the nation’s strictest voter ID laws and apparently left about 600,000 citizens without proper identification documents.
ReplyDeleteLoBeau then points out that citizens may obtain a free election certificate. We are required to have a birth certificate or current photo ID to apply for jobs, to get a driver’s license, engage in social programs i.e. welfare, unemployment, Medicare, etc. According to LoBeau’s blog it costs about $2-$47 to search for and purchase a copy, which isn’t an unreasonable cost for a vital document. Doing further research on Usa.gov, you can obtain your birth certificate in the state of Texas through the vital records section online, the cost is $22.00, takes about 10 business days to process, and can be sent out overnight and paid with a credit card through Texas.gov. It also does not decrease chance of voting, it just means that every individual has to go through the same procedures as everyone else, regardless of race.
To answer LoBeau’s question “how many people really care enough to show up and vote with a different name,” the places it would affect would be smaller communities with low voter turnouts. To commit voter fraud on a small city level can be done via hundreds of votes, and an organized group could use voter fraud to place undeserving candidates in office in smaller cities and counties.
In LoBeau’s last paragraph there was no sort of evidence when she says “studies show” to back up her information, so it leads me to take her words in confidence. Overall I feel as if she has a good viewpoint but her research lacks supporting evidence and should be looked over once more.
As I was reading the original editorial, Texas Strict Voter ID Law by Next Generation Feminist; I caught some key things that were stated.
ReplyDeleteAs the author stated, I feel as if the law passed caused a lot of confusion and discomfort. Political races are a detrimental thing in our society. For instance, we elect a person to make drastic decisions and laws that could effect each and every one of our daily lives during presidential elections.
Although I believe that the United States should make voting easy, I do believe that there should be some regulation on voting. If each voter voted one additional time, the outcome would severely change. Forcing the voter to supple some sort of identification, whether it be a birth certificate or not, is just in my book. As I previously stated, political elections are important to our society and should be taken with extreme caution.