In Texas, the Star Telegram reports: “As politically emboldened Republicans predict almost certain enactment of a voter identification law in the 2011 Legislature, the House point man on the issue is pushing a measure patterned after one of the most stringent voter ID laws in the country. House Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith of Euless, who was at the center of the partisan brawl over voter ID during the 2009 Legislature, has introduced legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID to cast ballots. HB401, modeled after a Georgia law, would also authorize creation of a voter identification card, which would be among the approved ID forms.”
If Texas is modeling this voter identification requirement after Georgia, the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott should immediately review the bureaucratic and ideological based opposition of the Voting Section at Department of Justice during the Section 5 preclearance process on a number of recent voting changes in Georgia. Texas AG Abbott should consult with Georgia on how they successfully defended their voter citizen verification requirements by opting for Federal Court.
After naively giving the Voting Section the benefit of doubt, Georgia eventually concluded that the Holder DoJ was simply not capable of calling balls and strikes. Georgia eventually went to the only place where they would receive a fair hearing – the three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia with a threatened direct appeal to the Supreme Court. Going to Federal Court provides sunshine in discovery and requires that Department of Justice bureaucrats actually articulate their novel legal theories to three Federal Judges as opposed to simply reciting advocacy group assertions to each other in the halls of the voting section.
For important policy issues of the Legislature and Executive Branch including redistricting or election administration citizenship verification or voter identification, the chief advocate for the state, Texas Attorney General Abbott, has a responsibility and duty to seek the fairest possible hearing on this voting change. That place would be the Federal Courts. AG Abbott should prepare his litigation plan now. Upon passage of the voter ID law, he should immediately request expedited review by a three judge panel in D.C.
If Texas is modeling this voter identification requirement after Georgia, the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott should immediately review the bureaucratic and ideological based opposition of the Voting Section at Department of Justice during the Section 5 preclearance process on a number of recent voting changes in Georgia. Texas AG Abbott should consult with Georgia on how they successfully defended their voter citizen verification requirements by opting for Federal Court.
After naively giving the Voting Section the benefit of doubt, Georgia eventually concluded that the Holder DoJ was simply not capable of calling balls and strikes. Georgia eventually went to the only place where they would receive a fair hearing – the three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia with a threatened direct appeal to the Supreme Court. Going to Federal Court provides sunshine in discovery and requires that Department of Justice bureaucrats actually articulate their novel legal theories to three Federal Judges as opposed to simply reciting advocacy group assertions to each other in the halls of the voting section.
For important policy issues of the Legislature and Executive Branch including redistricting or election administration citizenship verification or voter identification, the chief advocate for the state, Texas Attorney General Abbott, has a responsibility and duty to seek the fairest possible hearing on this voting change. That place would be the Federal Courts. AG Abbott should prepare his litigation plan now. Upon passage of the voter ID law, he should immediately request expedited review by a three judge panel in D.C.