Indiana voter ID case could affect Texas’ own push on matter

A U.S. Supreme Court case over an Indiana law requiring a photo ID to vote is drawing attention in the Rio Grande Valley, where local Texas lawmakers have been fighting efforts in Austin to pass a similar measure.

The court heard testimony Wednesday and is set to decide in the coming months if the 2005 Indiana law that requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID should be upheld. Georgia and Florida have similar measures.

Several Valley lawmakers oppose passing the requirement in Texas, saying it would deter voting in general and would particularly disenfranchise voters like the poor and the elderly. They also say proof of voter fraud is first needed to justify such a law here.

“Most lawmakers are looking to the Supreme Court for guidance,” state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, said on Wednesday. “This is an issue that will not go away.”

Currently in Texas, residents must provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when they register to vote. Although the government checks that they are valid numbers and matches them to the names provided, it doesn’t conduct an official photo comparison with the person providing the information.

Nationwide, the issue has become a political matter.

Democrats say a voter ID law would prevent legitimate voters from voting, and Republicans say it will stop illegitimate voters, like illegal immigrants, from voting.

The Texas House Election Committee, charged with researching voter fraud, is scheduled to hear reports on Jan. 25 on how rampant voter impersonation is in Texas.

State Rep. Betty Brown, R-Athens, authored the voter ID bill that passed the House last year, but died in the Senate. Her chief of staff, John Gibbs, said she plans on reintroducing the bill at the beginning of the next session in January 2009.

Two Valley lawmakers voted against the bill last year — Peña and state Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen.

And state Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, helped block the bill from being heard when it was introduced last year.

“In terms of people who register to vote who are not who they say they are, that is not an issue and that is not a problem,” Hinojosa said.

Gonzales said she needed more proof that voter fraud was occurring before seriously considering such a bill.

“The bill targeted voter impersonation and they had not provided actual proof of voter impersonation in Texas,” she said.

Elections Committee chairman Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said that is exactly what they will start collecting Jan. 25. He listed several examples where cross-checks between county databases produced questionable names on voter rolls. The Texas secretary of state found 49,000 names of people in 2007 who were either convicts or deceased.

He said the committee has asked county officials across the state to notify of it of possible voter fraud problems.

Concerns about voter misconduct are brought up every election, said Teresa Navarro, the Hidalgo County elections administrator.

“People are coming forward more to say this is going on,” she said, referring to people voting who are not eligible to vote or who are not citizens.

Ten voter fraud cases emerged from local elections in May 2005 and there have been concerns about the politiquera system, in which people recruit voters among the elderly and others who might not normally come to the polls — offering rides or knocking on their doors on Election Day to urge them to vote. Politiqueras generally say they are simply assisting voters, but critics say these political operatives’ tactics for getting out the vote are questionable at best.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra echoes Navarro’s concerns, saying he has heard of people showing up and voting, claiming to be someone else.

“We’re frustrated that we can’t prosecute these cases,” he said. “We can never find enough evidence.”

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Monitor staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.

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Jackie Leatherman covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4424.