Texas Officials Aim to Shutter Driver's License Offices in Black, Hispanic Communities

[Gothmog]

The Texas GOP relies on voter suppression https://rewire.news/article/2018/08/28/texas-officials-aim-to-shutter-drivers-license-offices-in-black-hispanic-communities/

Texas officials are pushing to close dozens of driver’s license offices in counties with large populations of Hispanic and Black voters—a move that could have an outsize impact in a state that makes it difficult to vote without a photo ID.

The Texas counties of Zapata, Jim Hogg, Brooks, and Kenedy stretch from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Gulf of Mexico and are the gateway to the Rio Grande Valley. Residents of these mostly rural and overwhelmingly Hispanic counties either have to or may soon have to travel to another county to obtain a driver’s license.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission on Wednesday will consider recommendations from state agencies including the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which the commission directed to “develop and implement a plan to close inefficient driver license offices.”

DPS has proposed shuttering 87 driver’s license offices around the state, with the majority of the proposed closures located in the Lubbock and San Antonio regions. The closures would leave at least 68 counties without a driver’s license office, and would disproportionately affect rural counties and communities of color.

[DUgosh]

1. Add Medina County

They have closed the Drivers License Office in the county seat of Hondo.

[Gothmog]

2. Texas rejects plan to close 14 DMVs, which critics said would have made it more difficult to get an

Link to tweet

[OilemFirchen]

3. Actually, they rejected ALL of the closures.

In a victory for Texas voters on Wednesday, a panel of state lawmakers unanimously killed a proposal to shutter up to 87 “inefficient” Department of Public Safety driver’s license offices in mostly rural areas. DPS issued the proposal after the Sunset Advisory Commission, a state agency focused on government efficiency, asked DPS to “develop and implement a plan to close inefficient driver license offices.” But doing so would have drastically increased travel times for people who need to obtain a government-issued ID, which is required to vote in Texas.

https://www.texasobserver.org/lawmakers-killed-a-plan-to-shut-down-87-drivers-licenses-offices-thats-good-news-for-voters/

[Gothmog]

4. I am very happy at this news

[JCMach1]

5. In a state where a trip to the DMV is already a multi-hour nightmare... One example

If you switch addresses, it is a law that you must update your DL. However, if you are Green Card holder, you are forced to go the office as opposed to filling a simple online form for US Citizens.

My wife is going for her Citizenship Ceremony next week... soon followed up by voter registration. One more blue vote for TX.

[Aristus]

6. I'm happy for both of you. And for Texas, with it's new Blue voter.

As cynical as I have become regarding all things 'patriotic', I still tear up with pride when I see people taking the oath of citizenship. People from all over the world, of every background, ethnicity, nationality, religion, skin color, etc. It makes me nearly burst with pride.