No Evidence of Voter Fraud at the Polls

By Kirsten Bokenkamp Senior Communications Strategist The proponents of Texas’ discriminatory Voter ID law have done a good job making the public believe that Texas is rife with voter fraud at the polls.  There’s just one problem … they’re wrong.  Texas doesn’t have a voter fraud problem.  Just last weekend, the San Antonio Express and The Austin American Statesman did a good job at reminding us of this important detail. The real abuse is not voter fraud at the polls; it is our state government’s attempts to suppress the fundamental voting rights of citizens of color in Texas.   The Department of Justice recently stated that Texas’ proposed voter ID law would disproportionately affect Hispanics – up to 600,000 eligible voters could be turned away at the polls.  Furthermore, as stated in the articles:

“Fewer than five ‘illegal voting’ complaints involving voter impersonation were filed with the Texas Attorney General’s Office  from the 2008 and 2010 general elections in which more than 13 million voters participated (and)…the attorney general handled just 20 allegations of election law violations in the 2008 and 2010 elections.  Most involved mail-in ballot or campaign finance violations, electioneering too close to a polling place or a voter blocked by an election worker.”

Recognizing the discriminatory nature of this law as well as the lack of its necessity, some prominent lawmakers have been against voter ID from the start.  Senator Rodney Ellis said that there are more UFO and Bigfoot sightings than documented cases of voter impersonation and Representative Rafael Anchia from Dallas feels that those in favor of the law are conjuring up images of “busloads of illegal immigrants being transported up from Mexico to vote straight-ticket Democratic.” The rhetoric, fear mongering, and storytelling has gone too far.  This law, if implemented, will prevent eligible Texans from voting both in rural counties and cities.  Texas already has one of the country’s lowest voter turnout rates (usually number 46 or 47).  Do we really want to end up at number 50?