Progreso residents urged not to testify in favor of voter ID bill

A group of Progreso residents was advised not to testify in favor of a divisive voter identification measure Tuesday for fear their allegations could threaten an ongoing investigation into election fraud in their city.

The fifteen individuals had hoped to join hundreds of other witnesses who spoke before the Texas House Elections Committee during a two-day hearing on the proposed legislation. But after driving to Austin they learned the Texas Attorney General's Office and committee members had agreed to avoid discussion of the Progreso case.

"It was disappointing," said Marilu Ybarra, a local activist who has become something of a statewide celebrity among those supporting the measure. "But we don't let up."

Voters in the small community south of Weslaco have raised serious questions about the city's 2008 municipal and school board elections in a series of affidavits that claim the winning political slate in both races bought votes, paid people to impersonate others at the polls and used their influence to intimidate individual voters.

State Republicans in Austin have seized on their claims in their ongoing effort to pass legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID or two other forms of identification before casting their ballots. The types of fraud alleged in Progreso are the very kind their bill would address, they say.

But Democratic legislators accuse Republicans of overplaying the case and argue the voter ID measure doesn't address the root problems at the city's polls. They say the legislation would disenfranchise low-income, minority voters who are less likely to have driver's licenses - the very people who make up much of Progreso's voting base.

A spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office said Wednesday that airing the allegations in front of a legislative committee could circumvent the legal process in the event criminal charges are filed in the case. No one ordered the Progreso residents not to testify, he said, but they were strongly urged against it.

Despite the agreement not to discuss the case, the allegations did arise at various points throughout the marathon 12-hour hearing on the bill Tuesday.

Committee member Rep. Betty Brown, R-Athens, eventually read the content of the residents' affidavits into the record, which was enough to satisfy Progreso's Eleazar Perez, a perennial candidate who lost bids for both the mayoral seat and the school board last year in two contested elections.

"I think it was worth it," he said. "We didn't know how many eyes across the state were watching what happens in our city."

State Rep. Aaron Peña, the committee's vice chair, objected to those readings, however, saying that by blocking potential witnesses like Perez from taking the rostrum, the attorney general's office had deprived the measure's critics of a chance to question the claims they were making.

"It went against the earlier admonition," said the Edinburg Democrat, who opposes the bill. "Those of us that have found little to no evidence of voter impersonation lost our opportunity at that point to cross-examine the witnesses."

After two days of testimony, the House Elections Committee has yet to set a date to vote on the measure. A companion voter ID bill passed in the Senate last month.

____

Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.