One must ask why the Western District of Texas federal court, just a few weeks ago, was so eager to re-draw maps for the litany of advocacy groups without regard to the Texas legislature; yet, the same court is now so hesitant to rule or draw any map that might displease any of the plaintiffs, even a bit. 

Despite clear guidance from the Supreme Court on coalition or cross over districts, they still avoid making a decision, even one.  They simply can’t say No!

In fact, the court is so wedded to the advocacy groups that they are now pressuring both sides to compromise, compromise, compromise rather than just ruling on the issues before them and setting a date for an election.   That would be too hard.  They want to DC court to do the job for them.  They want a compromise.

The fact is that they don’t want to rule because they know there tthis delay and inability to conform to precendent and the order of the Supreme Court will be again overruled by the Supreme Court and this time they won’t be so kind.   So a forced compromise is the best option for the Court.  However, a compromise  is just that, a compromise.  Meaning they don’t have to rule and can try to wash their hands of it. They will try but it shouldn’t work.

A mess and scandal that is truly embarassing to the federal judiciary.

link 

Staffers from Secretary of State Ralph Mollis’ office plan to visit every city and town to give residents without driver’s licenses the chance to obtain a voter identification card.  Link

Citizens would be required to show a photo ID when registering to vote under a package of bills that passed the Senate on Tuesday over Democrats’ objections.  The package also would require volunteers to complete training before working on voter registration drives and require voter applicants to affirm they are U.S. citizens.  

Link here 

That includes 59% of Democrats.  A poll of 600 Iowans by a Republican political consulting firm has found that Democrats and Republicans support a legislative proposal by Secretary of State Matt Schultz to require voters to show photo identification before being allowed to vote.

The poll was sponsored by the Legacy Foundation, which was founded by former Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican. The survey was conducted by Victory Enterprises of Davenport, which is headed by Chief Executive Steve Grubbs, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman. The poll showed that 76 percent of Iowans supported Schultz’s voter ID proposal, and it was opposed by 20.3 percent with 3.7 percent undecided. Among Democrats, 59.5 percent favored requiring a photo ID while 35.7 percent were opposed.

link here.

Hillyer at CFIF.

Lawmakers who fail to show a photo ID will be denied a cupcake at an event next week at the Iowa Capitol.  Extra frosting might reduce the “burden” a bit.  Link here.



                                                                                                

Judicial Watch, True the Vote has teamed up with me to bring Section 8 cases under Motor Voter enforcement actions this coming year.  The program was announced at CPAC last week.  Video below.

Katie Pavlich has this piece at Town Hall.  All of the efforts in 2010 by Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee to stop True the Vote now seem particularly suspect.  One wonders why it was that she was so hell-bent in stopping their efforts to bring integrity to the electoral system.  Could the report of 2,000,000 million dead voters on the rolls have anything to do with her efforts to stop True the Vote??

 National Review:  “The ongoing ballot-fraud trial shows that the real victims of voter fraud are all too often the poor, the elderly and the more vulnerable members of our society.

The trial is now in its third week. So far, prosecutors have presented 46 witnesses who have testified that their ballots were stolen. Who are these victims? According to the Times Union, they ‘have included public housing residents, college students, the semi-literate, a deaf man, the chronically ill and non-English speakers.’ . . .  All of them had ballots cast in their names in the 2009 Working Families party primary.”

Of course this is precisely what has been happening all around the country as I detail in my book Injustice. (Link).  Voter fraud victimizes minority communities in far greater degree than other communities.  That’s what makes it so tragic that some of the worst voter fraud deniers profess to support minority voting rights.

The Legislature’s congressional map divides Travis County into five districts, up from three, and draws District 25, currently held by Democrat Doggett, so that it could elect a Republican. Doggett said that would force him to run for re-election in District 35, which is based in Bexar County and stretches up Interstate 35 to Austin.

Plaintiff lawyers representing Travis County and major civil rights groups have argued that District 25 deserves to be protected as a “coalition district” — one in which a collection of different racial and ethnic groups votes together. According to the Texas Legislative Council, District 25 is 49.8 percent white, 8.7 percent African American and 38.8 percent Hispanic.

The concept of coalition districts is complicated, hotly debated and at the center of disagreement over Doggett’s district.

Most of the plaintiffs in the case say such districts are protected under the Voting Rights Act and various legal opinions.

But Abbott said in Monday’s filing that coalition districts are not protected and that District 25 cannot legally be drawn the way many plaintiffs want it. Abbott said he intends to follow the guidance of the U.S. Supreme Court, which said the maps should pay deference to the ones produced by the Legislature and make only adjustments needed to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

The full story at the statesman.com