A federal court on Thursday blocked Texas from enforcing a strict new voter identification law, ruling that the state had failed to prove that the mandate would not disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible voters who are members of minority groups.
“The State of Texas enacted a voter ID law that — at least to our knowledge — is the most stringent in the country,†the court wrote. “That law will almost certainly have retrogressive effect: it imposes strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor, and racial minorities in Texas are disproportionately likely to live in poverty.â€
The 56-page ruling came days after another three-judge panel in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Texas Legislature had intentionally discriminated against Hispanic voters in drawing up new political maps for Congressional and legislative districts, citing the same section of the Voting Rights Act.
squeegee !hbZVTk6JYc joined in and replied with this 14 years ago, 5 hours later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#346,171
@346,140 (dw !jdTkvovFCQ)
Poor people can't afford to pay for it, or even pay to take a cab to the Department to get one. It's actually a problem here, the state doesn't give out free IDs and public transportation is a joke in most cities, especially if you're stuck in a suburb with zero public transport.
Same reason poor people can't find jobs, there aren't any in their neighbors and getting to work in another community costs more than they can afford anyway.
Anonymous E replied with this 14 years ago, 2 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#346,172
@previous (squeegee !hbZVTk6JYc)
Fed court cited one example of $250 transportation cost to get the ID and there is a charge for the card - If my memory is correct I think it was $22.
US Super court will come down hard on this case.
dw !jdTkvovFCQ replied with this 14 years ago, 23 seconds later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#346,173
@346,171 (squeegee !hbZVTk6JYc)
how much are ids over there?
squeegee !hbZVTk6JYc replied with this 14 years ago, 9 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#346,174
@previous (dw !jdTkvovFCQ)
Idk, a renewal is like $8-12 or something, i think a first id is $20 or $30, can't recall. It's not expensive, but if you're poor even that can be a burden.
Getting there is the biggest problem for most people who don't have one.
Oh, and if you have tickets then you can't renew it, so if you have too many fines to pay then you can't vote. It's just silly.
Also the kind of voter fraud that an ID is meant to stop is only happens a few dozen times per election. It's not even in the hundreds. The bigger problem is disenfranchised voters who are turned away at the polls illegally.
I'll try to find the NPR podcast where the statistics were discussed. It made me sick. Literally only a few dozen cases, so let's disenfranchise thousands to prevent it!
(Edited 40 seconds later.)
dw !jdTkvovFCQ replied with this 14 years ago, 31 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^][v]#346,177
@previous (squeegee !hbZVTk6JYc) oh thats not a lot, i had to pay like 70 euro it is free if your under 14 or so
I ♥ Indy™ !THANKS5vxA joined in and replied with this 14 years ago, 1 day later, 2 days after the original post[^][v]#346,483
Good, that was the right decision. Voter ID programs are nothing but segregation programs, run by rich, white, old men.
Anonymous C replied with this 14 years ago, 1 day later, 4 days after the original post[^][v]#346,776
@previous (I ♥ Indy™ !THANKS5vxA) > says the racist pedo
Anonymous M joined in and replied with this 14 years ago, 15 minutes later, 4 days after the original post[^][v]#346,777
@346,483 (I ♥ Indy™ !THANKS5vxA)
Like Marsden?