Texas, the voter suppression state (legal, moving, best)

[Cida]

Not an admirable distinction.


The Voter Suppression State
If it is your goal to keep people of color from the polls, you can once again look to Texas for guidance
By Mimi Swartz, Texas Monthly

The state that gave you two recent mediocre-to-crummy Republican presidents (who are starting to look downright Lincolnesque compared to you-know-who), gerrymandering in the guise of redistricting (thanks a lot, Tom DeLay) and a profound if misguided antipathy to government in general is now surging ahead in a new field: voter suppression. As someone who loves Texas with a triple shot of ambivalence, I take no pleasure in spreading this news.

Opinion | The Voter Suppression StateLatest Commentary Today, Breaking Business News Worldwide | Latest Commentary Today, Breaking Business News Worldwide

[TexasRedneck]

Well, it IS about time that the roles WERE looked at. If they're legit, fine - no harm, no foul. If they're not, they should be removed.

What's "suppressive" about that?

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Well, it IS about time that the roles WERE looked at. If they're legit, fine - no harm, no foul. If they're not, they should be removed.

What's "suppressive" about that?

Rolls, not roles.

What's suppressive is the Secretary of State made no effort to produce a clean list of voters who should be purged. They used methods that within 24 hours of publication were shown to be wrong. One small county in west Texas that had about 300 people on its "purge list" was able to show, within 48 hours of receiving the list, that all 300 were legal voters. And this was a conservative, Red west Texas county. Not some liberal hotbed.

I understand that 21,000 of the 95,000 were proven legal just by checking one database the day after it was released. One. Database.

I'm all for removing illegal voters. But when you do it with the clear intent of removing minority & ethnic voters* with no regard as to the correctness of the list, that's suppressive.

And it's not "no harm, no foul". These people are being removed by some counties without any followup. So now they have lost their right to vote, and have to go to additional steps to regain it, if they even know they lost it. What if they show up to the polls, not realizing they have been purged?

This is why so many people like me, who were good, conservative, red voters for years, are voting blue. This is why a Beto almost wins in a state that was solid red for so long. Many of us are tired of the partisan tactics of the far right. I don't care about bathrooms, I want a state that's run well, offering opportunity to all.



* You wonder why I say this was directed at minority & ethnic voters? They used a list of people who weren't citizens when they applied for a TDL, and matched it up to people who later registered to vote. Anyone on both lists was automatically purged. They didn't bother to check whether those people had later become citizens, before they applied to vote. Turns out tens of thousands had.

[tcualum]

Is there a way to check the list? I'm concerned that my husband is on it even though he didn't break any laws. He was here legally for more than a decade before he got citizenship and registered to vote. During most of the time he was here he had a driver's license.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by tcualum

Is there a way to check the list? I'm concerned that my husband is on it even though he didn't break any laws. He was here legally for more than a decade before he got citizenship and registered to vote. During most of the time he was here he had a driver's license.

What county would he be registered in? I would check with the County Clerk, and see what they are doing with the info from the state. I think most of them have put it on hold, due to the unbelievable level of crappy data they were sent.

[TXsurburbanmom]

Originally Posted by tcualum

Is there a way to check the list? I'm concerned that my husband is on it even though he didn't break any laws. He was here legally for more than a decade before he got citizenship and registered to vote. During most of the time he was here he had a driver's license.

You can check online. Google “am I registered to vote Texas” and it comes up. You just provide some info - I used DL# and date of birth - and it will tell you if and what county. Super easy.

[Kthnry]

Originally Posted by Bobcat4

You can check online. Google “am I registered to vote Texas” and it comes up. You just provide some info - I used DL# and date of birth - and it will tell you if and what county. Super easy.

But that wouldn't indicate if a person is on the list. I don't believe the people on the list have had their registrations cancelled. The county is supposed to ask people on the list to provide evidence of citizenship first.

[Mark Senior]

Originally Posted by Kthnry

But that wouldn't indicate if a person is on the list. I don't believe the people on the list have had their registrations cancelled. The county is supposed to ask people on the list to provide evidence of citizenship first.

Yep, nothing is cancelled yet. Yep, there is illegal voting going on. But this not the way to check for it, what way, I don't have a clue.

My best friends wife was a legal voter, citizen, and worked on/for ONE of the parties, I won't say which one, but it is the one most talked about, lol and told and showed him time again how she/they could register him to vote, she passed way, but this has been a very common practice for years.

So there IS a problem to be solved.

[TXsurburbanmom]

Originally Posted by Kthnry

But that wouldn't indicate if a person is on the list. I don't believe the people on the list have had their registrations cancelled. The county is supposed to ask people on the list to provide evidence of citizenship first.

Sorry, misread I was thinking the voters registration “list” not the list they are reviewing to verify someone is legally voting. Long day....

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by Bobcat4

You can check online. Google “am I registered to vote Texas” and it comes up. You just provide some info - I used DL# and date of birth - and it will tell you if and what county. Super easy.

This. My kid was purged close to the last election. Found out through the "am I registered to vote Texas" site when no card came for her. She's 21, has been voting since she was 18. We moved about a year and a half ago. We filled out change of address voting cards together when we moved. Mine went through, her's did not. She had to fight to vote in that last state election. She had been purged for absolutely no reason.