Texas Uses Voter ID Case To Launch Assault On Voting Rights Act

[ProSense]

Texas Uses Voter ID Case To Launch Assault On Voting Rights Act

Ryan J. Reilly

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has amended the state’s lawsuit against the federal government over the rejections of their voter ID law to include a direct strike at the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.

Abbott argues in the amended complaint that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, amended by Congress in 2006, “exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.”

“For the Department of Justice to now contend that Texas cannot implement its voter ID law denies Texas the ability to do what other states can rightfully exercise under the Constitution,” Abbott said in a statement.

While several courts have dealt with challenges to the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act — which forces certain states with a history of racial discrimination to have their election laws precleared by either the federal government or in a D.C. court — Texas’ challenge is the most prominent. Law professor Rick Hasen thinks there’s at least a chance the Supreme Court could hear the case before the November election.

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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/texas_uses_voter_id_case_to_launch_assault_on_voti.php

[Old and In the Way]

1. Seems to me that voting rights, particularly votes on national offices, deserve

to be consistent on a federal level - in all states - and not subject to the whims of a particular Party ideology at any particular time. If States want to run separate elections with separate voting requirements for state/local office...fine. But if there are national offices on the ballot, the vote requirements should be the same in every state. And, if States are so eager to have voter IDs, then the state should pay the cost of implementing such a program for all citizens...otherwise, this becomes a unconstitutional poll tax and financial hardship for broad segments of our society.

[ProSense]

2. In the alternate

universe where today's Republicans and their enablers reside, anything is possible.

INDIANA SUPREME COURT RULES SECRETARY OF STATE CONVICTED OF VOTER FRAUD WAS STILL ELLIGIBLE TO RUN | Last month, a jury found then-Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) guilty of six felony counts of voter fraud, theft, and perjury. But today, the state’s supreme court overturned a lower court’s ruling that by registering to vote at a false address, he was ineligible to run for the office. The decision means that Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) will be able to appoint a permanent replacement for White, instead of the job going to the Democratic runner-up from the November 2010 election. The unanimous court held that Democrats should have challenged his residency before the election, rather than after.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/15/445292/indiana-supreme-court-rules-secretary-of-state-convicted-voter-fraud/