Texas Senate Passes Voter ID Law, Making Its Passing Inevitable

The Texas State Senate passed the Voter ID Law, yesterday. This new law will make a requirement for everyone but the elderly, 70 or older, show a valid ID, whenever they go to vote:

With a strong push from Republicans and over the vigorous objections of Democrats, the Senate on Wednesday approved legislation requiring all but elderly Texans to show a photo ID before voting....

In the end, the measure was approved 19-11, with all Republicans backing it and all but one absent Democrat voting no.

Democrats argued that this would be a violation of the Voting Rights Act:

Democrats warned that the bill will run into trouble under the federal Voting Rights Act, designed to protect minority voting rights in several southern states — including Texas — and Alaska, Arizona and some urban areas. Under that law, the U.S. Justice Department must review all changes in election laws in those states.

“This requirement is just a poll tax by another name,” said Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, referring to the now outlawed practice of requiring voters to pay a fee before voting. The poll tax was used to discourage voting by minorities decades ago....

The bill would require Texans to show a driver’s license, state ID card, military ID, concealed handgun license, passport or citizenship ID to vote. An effort by Democrats to include student IDs with photos was rejected by Republicans.

However, Indiana passed a similar law in 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld it, when it was challenged as a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

This law is designed to curb voter fraud. If they have to show identification, it'll make it less likely that people are able to vote more than once, dead people voting through ID theft, and keep illegal aliens from voting.

The Democrats' poll tax argument is no quite on point. The poll tax was a tax only had to be paid when people went to vote. The price that people pay for the ID card will be spent anyway.

People will have to get an ID for many reasons, including getting a job or into college, apply for any sort of assistance from the government, or driving a car. So, the great majority of people will have an ID anyway.

The Senate was the biggest obstacle that this law had before it could be made into law. Now, the bill will go to the House where there is a huge Republican majority and will have no trouble passing. There is, also, no doubt that Governor Rick Perry will sign it into law.

GOP Attorneys Answer Rep. Nadler's (D-NY) Call For “Credible Evidence” About Rotten ACORN's Fraud Charges

Video: We’ve got your “credible” right here, Rep. Nadler
posted at 4:15 pm on March 27, 2009
by Ed Morrissey

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) shocked people when he wondered aloud during testimony in Congress about ACORN’s serial violations of election-fraud law when Congress would demand an investigation.  Jerold Nadler (D-NY) attempted to get his fellow Democrat back in line by assuring him that any “credible” allegation would prompt Nadler himself to demand an investigation.  A group of GOP attorneys want to take Nadler up on that challenge.

There is plenty of “credible evidence” to launch an investigation into the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN), the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) will argue in a video to be released Friday afternoon. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) shut down a request by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) to launch an investigation into ACORN, with Nadler citing not enough “credible evidence” to proceed.

The RNLA video targets that claim by marshaling a bevy of news reports from throughout the country during the 2008 presidential election, in which ACORN activists were alleged to have facilitated voter fraud in their get-out-the-vote efforts.

We covered most of those stories here at Hot Air.  If we missed any, it was only because so many of them popped up during the campaign.  And it didn’t just happen in our imagination, either; the Attorney General of Indiana found “multiple criminal violations” committed by ACORN just in his state alone.

Isn’t that credible enough for Nadler?  Or is he too much in ACORN’s grip that nothing short of a signed and videotaped confession by all of ACORN’s leadership will pique his curiosity about election fraud?  Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.



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http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/27/video-weve-got-your-credible-right-here-rep-nadler/
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My Thoughts

What more could Jerold Nadler want? ACORN is a huge scourge of our country's integrity.

About Face: Former ACORN Apologist Rep. Conyers Wants Rotten ACORN's Fraud Charges Examined

Conyers suggests probe of ACORN Calls fraud charges 'serious'
S.A. Miller
Friday, March 20, 2009

In an startling partisan shift, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. on Thursday proposed holding hearings on claims the liberal activist group ACORN engaged in a pattern of crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style “protection” racket.

Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat and fierce partisan, suggested a congressional probe after scathing testimony about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) during a hearing on various voting issues related to the 2008 presidential election.

Mr. Conyers called the accusations “a pretty serious matter.”

“I think that it would be something that would be worth our time,” he said during Thursday's hearing. “We've never had one person representing ACORN before the committee. ... I think in all fairness we ought to really examine it.”

The testimony by Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh accused the nonprofit group of violating tax, campaign-finance and other laws by, among other things, sharing with the Barack Obama campaign a list of the Democrat's maxed-out campaign donors so ACORN could use it to solicit them for a get-out-the-vote drive.

She also testified that the Democrat-allied group provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from targets of demonstrations through a shakedown it called the “muscle for the money” program.

Ms. Heidelbaugh, a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Lawyers Association, spearheaded an unsuccessful lawsuit last year seeking a court injunction in Pennsylvania against ACORN's voter-registration drive for the 2008 presidential campaign. She appeared as a witness at the request of Republican committee members.

Mr. Conyers, who is known for his drive to continue investigating the Bush administration, previously defended ACORN. In October, he condemned an FBI voter fraud investigation targeting the group. He questioned whether it was politically motivated to hamper a voter-registration drive targeting groups likely to support Mr. Obama's candidacy.

But Mr. Conyers' shift was met by resistance from fellow Democrats on the committee, and it was unclear whether a hearing would be scheduled.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties that hosted Thursday's hearing, suggested there was not enough “credible evidence” to warrant a hearing focused exclusively on ACORN.

Rep. Melvin Watt said he would concede that ACORN and some of its members engaged in voter fraud. But he said voter fraud was already covered by existing law and Congress has not further role in the matter.

“I'm not coming to a hearing to have a trial on ACORN. That's not my job,” the North Carolina Democrat said.

Republican committee member Rep. Steve King of Iowa said getting the Democrat-led Congress to take action against ACORN “is going to be difficult but I am encouraged by John Conyers' request.”

The accusations against the group, which were based entirely on sworn court testimony late last year by ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

No ACORN officials testified at Thursday's hearing, but they have said none of the charges are true and dismiss Ms. MonCrief as a disgruntled, low-level employee who was fired for stealing money from the organization.

Kevin Whelan, ACORN deputy political director, did not return a call for comment Thursday.

Ms. MonCrief worked for years as a clerk at the D.C. office of ACORN-affiliated Project Vote before being fired for charging about $2,000 in personal expenses on an ACORN credit card.

She said the hearing Thursday - she attended but did not testify - was an extremely partisan exercise except for Mr. Conyers' support for further hearings.

“I thought that was really wonderful because he took a stand that I really didn't think was going to come from that side,” Ms. MonCrief, a registered Democrat, said after the hearing.

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/20/conyers-suggests-probe-of-acorn/

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My Thoughts

ACORN's legal troubles continue to mount. It's getting harder and harder to defend them. If the Democrats start turning on ACORN, they won't have anyone coming to their rescue other than extreme left nutjobs like Soros.