Texas Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) announced today that he has eleven signatures in the Senate to block debate on Voter ID legislation under consideration by the Texas House.
At the press conference announcing this, Senator Ellis was joined by representatives of Common Cause, The People for the American Way, Advocacy Incorporated, the League of Women's Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union.
This is literally some of the best news to come out of this session. We should be very, very grateful to Senator Ellis and the 11 others who have agreed to block consideration of Voter ID legislation in the Senate. They are true Texas Heroes.
Here's some of what Ellis had to say at a presser today:
"Like last session, I have the votes to defeat plans to enact voter intimidation laws," said Senator Ellis. "We've seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. It's time to drop this dangerous and divisive plan and concentrate on reforms that will actually improve our electoral system."
The attempt to disenfranchise minorities and the poor through Voter ID legislation is a national trend, and it was tried in the Texas Legislature last session.
More from Ellis:
"There is overwhelming evidence that the voter ID plan is a solution in search of a problem," said Ellis. "Supporters of this effort continue to throw charges, anecdotal evidence and rhetoric around, but cannot point to one single case of voter impersonation. Those of us opposed, however can cite case after case of voter intimidation and suppression. The same concerns we raised here in Texas were echoed by career justice department officials."
And, finally some data that backs up my gripes about requiring photo ID to vote:
Voter I.D. proposals would create tremendous barriers for Texans to vote. Studies have shown as many as 21 million -- 11 percent -- do not have a photo ID. These Americans are predominantly elderly, low-income and/or minority. In Georgia, for instance, 33 percent of seniors over 75 do not have a valid driver's license. In addition, with the passage of the Real ID Act in Congress, it will become more difficult to obtain an official state ID.
"We will not allow this blatant voter intimidation plan to become the law in Texas," Ellis said. "We've come to far and fought too hard to go back."
Thank God!