Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the Texas Voter ID Law and potential Voter Suppression in the United States:
"I am gathered here today with Congressman Al Green and other Local elected officials here from the Houston, Texas area to address an issue that disturbs the very foundation of our nation; the right of each and every citizen to participate in electing their representatives in government. Enshrined in our Constitution by our nation's founders, this fundamental right is the lynchpin of our democracy. Unfortunately, the right to vote was not recognized for all people in this country at its inception. Indeed, for the several decades after the signing of the Constitution, the right to vote belonged to white men who owned property alone.
"I firmly believe that informing elected officials on the voting requirements IS NOT the same as informing the voters of Texas. The primary and runoffs of 2012 are very important. Both Members will call for immediate action by the state of Texas to inform voters about their rights when it comes to voting in the upcoming elections. Nationwide, depending on the state, African-Americans are 2 or 3 times as likely as their white counterparts to lack government-issued photo identification. Nearly a fifth of our seniors do not have government-issued photo IDs. We must remember that voting is a RIGHT under our Constitution, NOT A PRIVILEGE. We must prevent this effort to turn back the hands of time in order to prevent eligible voters from exercising their Constitutional rights
"Through a long-fought effort by dedicated activists, courageous legislators and judges, and with the gradual evolution of public sentiment, the voting franchise was extended by law to all white men, non-white men, women, native Americans, and then finally, to all citizens over the age of 18. However, even though the right to vote was legally recognized for all citizens of age, there have always been sinister efforts to suppress the vote of certain citizens who were guaranteed the right to vote by the Constitution. Through poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests, intimidation and outright violence, voter suppression remained an agenda by those who do not believe in the principle of one person, one vote, and who seek to keep certain groups from participating in our democracy.
"An attack on the right to vote is under way across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. While couched in terms of voter fraud, these laws will actually have their greatest impact by limiting participation of African Americans, Latinos, Asians and the young. Today the Department of Justice found that the Texas Voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act is for everyone.
"The right to vote is a critical and sacred constitutionally protected civil right. To challenge this is to erode our democracy, challenge justice, and mock our moral standing. I am pleased that the Department of Justice saw this law as a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and saw it as crippling legislation. We cannot let the rhetoric of an election year destroy a fundamental right upon which we have established liberty and freedom.
"A long, bitter, and bloody struggle was fought for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 so that all Americans could enjoy the right to vote, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. Americans died in that fight so that others could achieve what they had been forcefully deprived of for centuries--the ability to walk freely and without fear into the polling place and cast a voting ballot. An election with integrity is one that is open to every eligible voter. Restrictive voter ID requirements degrade the integrity of our elections by systematically excluding large numbers of eligible Americans.
"Voter photo identification legislation is a recent phenomenon and the latest tactic of the voter suppression agenda. Only decade ago, in any of our 50 states, a voter could set out on election Tuesday and be permitted to vote in his or her respective state without being required to present a photo ID to election officials. Alarmingly, since that time, 15 states have adopted photo ID requirements for voting. In fact, at least 34 states have introduced legislation requiring voters to produce photo IDs at the voting booth in this year alone. 7 states, including my home state of Texas, have adopted the strictest form of voter photo ID legislation with the fewest exceptions.
"This raises the question: what caused these states to, after more than two centuries of holding elections without photo ID requirements, impose such a burden on voters? Proponents of these laws argue that voter identification fraud is an epidemic in America, while there has been little documented evidence. Voter impersonation fraud occurs when one person votes using the identity of another. In order to obtain a state-issued photo ID valid under these statues, states often charge fees. Moreover the documents used for proof of identity in order to obtain photo IDs, such as birth certificates and social security cards, also cost money. When added together, along with transportation costs, the amount of money required to obtain an acceptable form of identification can be substantial for a citizen who lacks the financial means to do so.
"Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, a Supreme Court case decided in 1966, outlawed the Jim Crow requirement that a citizen pay a poll tax in order to be allowed to vote in an election. In its decision, the Court said "We conclude that a State violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard.' However, with voter photo ID requirements, those who would suppress the rights of citizens to vote would have vote a way to implement a backdoor poll tax. Voters without valid, non-expired state or federal government issued identification documents will be burdened with the expenses of obtaining one of those prescribed forms of ID.
"Now, I am sad to report that the state of Texas has been the latest victim of the systematic effort to suppress votes all around America. Governor Rick Perry signed into law the Texas iteration of voter photo identification legislation, which was based upon the extremely restrictive Indiana photo ID law. The history and current state of discriminatory voter suppression in Texas is so pervasive that any substantive change to its election law must be submitted by preclearance to the Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This makes Texas one of the 9 states in our country that must submit election law alterations, such as photo ID requirements, to the Department of Justice before the changes are permitted to take effect. The law is set to take effect in January next year.
"Currently, Texas election law allows voters to use their birth certificate, a current utility bill, a government check, a paycheck, official mail addressed to them, and other documents in lieu of a driver's license issued by the state or a U.S. passport. These documents have long been sufficient in the state of Texas to prove one's identity for the purposes of voting. However, once the new law takes effect, those alternative forms of identification will be unavailable to citizens of Texas. In fact, Texas voters will be unable to use their birth certificate, which is issued by the State of Texas, in order to vote. Now, this fact is particularly revealing, especially in light of the purported reason for passing voter photo identification legislation, which is to combat a "supposed' widespread problem of voter impersonation fraud.
"If we are to accept their argument that the voter photo ID laws are for the purpose of preventing voter impersonation fraud, then why not continue to allow people to use birth certificates? By banning citizens from using their state-issued birth certificates, we are required to believe the ridiculous and unfounded notion of people stealing other people's birth certificates in order to show up at an election to vote! Where is the sense in that? I don't know about you, but I have never heard a single case in which a person stole someone else's birth certificate and then showed up at the polls and voted as that person. No, the fact that birth certificates were removed from Texas election law as a permissible form of identification reveals that voter impersonation fraud is merely a pretextual argument; a guise under which the real purpose of suppressing the votes of certain people can be achieved. That is something for which we cannot stand.
"However, while a birth certificate is no longer good enough to prove your identity for the purpose of voting in the State of Texas, "coincidentally", the new law does allow voters to use concealed handgun licenses in order to be permitted to cast their ballots. There is no doubt that the Texas Voter ID law was specifically crafted with the intent to impose new obligations on the rights of certain Texans to vote, while attempting to preserve the rights of other citizens they believe to be predisposed to voting a certain way. This is wrong in the State of Texas, and it is wrong in America."