Protecting Texans' Right to Vote
With election season in full swing, it's impossible to avoid thinking about the integrity and significance of "one person, one vote" and the profound impact that voter fraud can have on our state and our nation.
The United States Supreme Court's decision on Indiana's voter identification law will have a significant impact in Texas, where vote fraud is an all too common part of our elections. Either way the Court rules, I am prepared to follow its guidance and work with other conservative legislators to formulate a plan and win back the public's confidence in our state elections.
Indiana's voter identification law, enacted in 2005, requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID such as a driver's license, passport, or student ID card issued by a public university. The law is simple, yet bolsters the integrity of elections in Indiana.
The plaintiffs in the suit before the Supreme Court make the unsubstantiated claim that the Indiana law is a partisan ploy by the Republican-controlled legislature to disenfranchise Democratic voters. In the absence of proof, the courts disagree, noting that plaintiffs could not find one person who intended not to vote because of the photo identification requirement. The Indiana plaintiffs' objections are little more than rhetorical pleas.
The facts tell a different story.
Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri found that turnout in Indiana increased with the photo identification law in effect, even in Democratic counties. Turnout also increased in Arizona after enactment of a citizenship verification and photo identification law. In Mexico, turnout is up following the implementation of citizenship verification and photo ID requirements that create one of the most secure and sophisticated election systems in the world. Dr. David Muhlhausen of The Heritage Foundation concluded in a September 2007 study that "voter identification laws largely do not have the claimed negative impact on voter turnout based on state-to-state comparisons."
Elections in Texas are sorely lacking in integrity. Through open records requests, the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute has found that from 1999 through early 2007, Tarrant County cancelled the voter registration of 584 non-citizens. In the state's five most populous counties, 6,700 non-citizens have been removed from voter registration lists.
These numbers were discovered incidentally, through jury summons returned marked with "non-citizen". A statewide study has not been conducted and the state's chief elections officer admits that voters are on the honor system when they claim U.S. citizenship.
The election integrity crisis in Texas is deep. In 2007, the State Auditor identified 49,049 registered voters who may be ineligible to vote, including 23,114 possible felons and 23,576 who may be deceased. The Special Investigations Unit in the Office of the Attorney General referred eleven cases of vote fraud for prosecution in 2007, and two public officials were convicted on separate charges of vote fraud.
Each illegal vote silences the voice of a legitimate voter. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and all-white primaries are a stain on our state history. Yet the effect of those despicable practices is no different from the effect of vote fraud: disenfranchisement.
The evidence is conclusive: Vote fraud exists. Election integrity measures increase voter participation.
Yet opponents of citizenship verification and photo identification requirements continue to levy anecdotal claims that the poor, the elderly, and minorities lack identification and will be disenfranchised. In Texas, however, there are 1.4 million more drivers' licenses held by the voting-age population than there are registered voters. According to the Department of Public Safety, 73 percent of the 79 and older population hold a valid driver's license.
Low-income Texans drive cars, purchase tobacco and alcohol, and get married - all of which require photo identification. Additionally, low-income individuals and families continually meet the federal citizenship verification requirement to qualify for Medicaid.
Elections are announced many months in advance and typical turnaround time for issuance of a driver's license or state ID is ten days, giving ample time for anyone without photo identification to obtain it.
Furthermore, state law currently allows everyone over the age of 65 and most people with illnesses or disabilities to vote by mail, a practice that is unaffected by most photo identification laws.
In light of evidence of vote fraud in Texas, and given the positive experiences in other states and nations, I am working diligently on an election integrity plan that includes both citizenship verification and a photo identification requirement. Following the Supreme Court's guidance, I am determined to protect the most basic and important right of our representative democracy, the right to vote.
State Representative Bill Zedler represents District 96. He serves on as a Board member for the Texas Conservative Coalition and the Young Republicans of Texas
