A Fraction of the Whole
I’m watching the Senate debate on the rules and Voter ID via streaming video because I forgot about that whole “business attire” deal and I wore my velour sweatsuit to work this morning. So I’m sitting here squinting at my monitor screen trying to figure out who’s who because everyone knows that squinting helps your vision.
They are debating a proposal by Dan Patrick (R-ScrewTheRulesVille) to amend the two-thirds rule into a three-fifths rule for voter ID legislation. (Currently they’re discussing a resolution by Tommy Williams.) This would mean that you’d only need to meet a three-fifths threshold to bring a bill up for debate. Fractions are hard.
(Keep hitting refresh because I’ll continue blogging at least for five more minutes or until my eyes glaze over, which is to say, five more minutes. Tops.)
Now obviously the D’s, who are in the minority, are not happy about this. Especially John Whitmire, who looks like he might lose it at any minute. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst seems pretty cool and collected, and not passionate either way, mostly because he’s looking for dates on the Twitter.
So if you’re following my non-live blogging, you should know that I’m following Patti Hart’s updates from the floor, because obviously she got the memo about the appropriate Senate wardrobe. She quoted Williams as saying, the two-thirds rule “is a good thing. I have been a House member who lost his entire package in Calendars Committee.”
Blink. That’s what she said.
I actually just tried to pause my streaming video to go get lunch, thinking that I’d be able to pause, you know, the whole Senate and life as we know it. Damn my DVR mentality!
I just looked up the resolution, SR 14, and the only text I could find was “Adopting Permanent Rules of the Senate of the 81st Legislature.” The anticipation is killing me. I’m actually sitting at my desk practicing fractions. Does anybody have a protractor I can borrow?
OK. I’ll bite. Where’s Montgomery County?
Williams: “Partisan politics has been injected into this issue.” I keep expecting him to break down laughing, saying, “Oh man, I’m totally just f—king with you guys.”
Shapiro’s on the phone. I think she’s as bored as I am. If that’s possible. Now they’re talking about voter fraud.
Instead of a three-fifths rule, what about a rule that forbids any talking on the Senate floor, requiring all future debates to be pantomimed? For the love of God, can someone turn off the mics?
This should make everyone feel better. Mississippi! They’re just like us! Despite the fact that voter ID efforts have failed for the past decade, the Mississippi Legislature intends to take it up once more. The bill is supported by Gov. Haley Barbour.
Carlos Uresti is offering an amendment for veterans’ mental health. Williams wants to table it because it’s so obviously partisan and divisive. The D’s will most likely continue to offer amendments and Williams will continue to table and the vote will be along party lines. Spoiler.
I think we’re done here.
Tagged: dan patrick, john whitmire, redistricting, royce west, rules, texas senate debate, three-fifths, tommy williams, two-thirds, voter ID.
2nD Pink / 1nD Stink says:
First! Am I the only one who reads your blog? I was third on your last post, and someone deleted my third and 1nD Pink / 1nD Stink lost his Fist the same way…. Well First! Urs Truly, 2nD Pink / 1nD Stink!
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eileen Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Son, if you don’t think of another pseudonym that’s not quite so offensive, I’m going to have to blacklist you. Also for all the Kenderdine comments. And the comments from yesterday.
Think that’s censorship? Call the ACLU.
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Treehugger Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
That’s polite 30-something chic speak. What it means is Get off my fucking yard! Now go away and read the Texas Constitution and report back to us.
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1nD Stink Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hey you know what I have a subscription to this fine publication and I like to read it, I don’t need your Treehugging self telling me what to read.
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1nD Stink Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
and honestly I tried really hard not curse here but your said get off my fucking yard! and that’s a cure so your know what f u sucker.
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lush Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Just a friendly reminder that I’ve got a lot of land out west that’s great for hiding bodies. IJS.
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1nD Stink Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Hey lush, I was just being creative, I mean the blog is in the pink and the only other place I hear in the pink its associated with in the stink, well I guess I was not being so creative but you know what I mean, I meant no harm…
Now you want to kill me and hide my body and some tree huger wants to curse me and tell me to get of peoples virtual yard… I think he or she should go suck a virtual *&@#…. I did not start the Marshall thing either I may have been responsible for 30% maybe 40% of the MK post…
but honestly, this blog is about politics not personal attacks and back biting, I will keep my post relevant and topical…. from now on…
Stink
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lush Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
You brought all this on yourself, mothereffer, so I hope you’re not looking for an apology. I’ll gladly leave you alone as soon as you start being topical and stop being a misogynistic twit.
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1nD Stink Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
What in the world did I do to be considered a misogynist… How do you get off saying I hate women, you seem like a misandrist…. Why in the world would I call you a man hater… and then you call me a twit… you must be getting sober because you are never this rude when you are drunk.
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lush Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Whether I’m rude or not has nothing to do with my being drunk or sober (I never blame The Alcohol. The Alcohol is good and pure and holy.) and everything to do with whether or not I’m talking to an ass*hole. That revolting comment you made yesterday under Ben Quick’s name? The other comments you made previously painting yourself as some sort of creepy stalker? Your latest choice of screen name in all its variations? ALL of that shite is offensive to me – as a woman. Thus my labeling you a misogynistic twit. You – on the other hand – would have a hard time convincing anyone that I hate men just because I dislike you. You may well be male, but you are not a man. Real men don’t behave like this. You should be embarrassed. And since you totally strike me as the type who will slip up and give your identity away at some point, I’m certain one day you will be.
/I’m going to go on ahead and ignore you from here on out at PL’s request.
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Brick Pollitt Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
you must be ben 2
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MonkeyMan says:
It’s on cable — the Senate’s web feed is weak.
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eileen Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
The only TV we’ve got is in Evan’s office, and he ignores me when I knock.
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1nD Stink says:
Is this better? If its not I will work it, maybe just Stink…
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MajorMajor says:
Do i need to state the obvious? Why knock…just go right in. I mean, you are credentialed and all.
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MonkeyMan says:
Tommy Williams is conveying a Cheney-esque style, to try to argue that what they seek to do is really no big thing, and actually a good thing. Really bizarre argument to make with a straight face.
This is really ridiculous and such a poor way to begin a session. Dewhurst should be ashamed at what he’s doing to the institution, respect for the Texas Senate.
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Treehugger says:
Couldn’t you just borrow a coat and tie?
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eileen Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Burka took the spare one.
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Dave says:
What’s so bad about requiring ID to vote?
That IS what this is all about, right?
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eileen Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
My license has been expired for quite some time now. I hope DPS isn’t reading this.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Dave, you’re right! While we’re at it, why not test folks on fancy constitutional principles, how about applying reading or literacy tests, how about requiring folks to be property owners, why not just get to the heart of it and charge a slight fee — you know, so we can cull out the loafers (you know who I’m talkin’ about!). Sounds reasonable. Maybe we can call it a poll tax. Sure, let’s start down the very slippery slope of making it harder to vote — I mean, it’s pretty obvious that too many people vote now as it is, what, maybe 60% turnout in presidential years. You make good sense, Dave.
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Dave Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Whoa now! I see your point — it’d be terrible to make it harder to vote, sure. But shouldn’t there be some way to prove citizenship and to prove you are who you say you are?
I guess the questions is this: is there much voter fraud WITHOUT requiring ID? And is the answer to that question really knowable?
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
No, there is no evidence that there is significant or even minimal voter fraud in Texas. Again, you affirm under penalty of perjury that you are who you are, that a citizen and otherwise eligible to vote.
Keep in mind those who are pushing this have a very strong personal interest in its passage — they want to depress voter turnout because that assists R’s. The evidence commonly cited of fraud — get this — comes from Harris County, where a number of registered voters who were called for jury duty tried to weasel out of service by saying they weren’t citizens.
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KO Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hey Dave, in order to vote you must be REGISTERED to vote. You get a cute little card with your name and other stuff on it. You present that card and vote, no problem. If you don’t bring that little card, then you DO have to show identification in order to “prove” that you are on the list of registered voters.
Now, I’m not so naive as to believe that a voter registration card can’t be forged, or used by someone else, but I don’t think this has ever been a big problem. It would be very easy to run a survey checking with the person on the voter list to see if they really did go out to the polls.
Double dog dare the republicans to conduct such a survey.
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texun Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Significant numbers of poor adults don’t own cars and many elderly people no longer have drivers’ licenses because they don’t drive. Providing them with photo id’s would be costly and cumbersome. Requiring them to have their absentee ballots notarized would be unfair. Moreover, there is no compelling evidence of a voter fraud problem linked to id’s.
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txaslim says:
sen. west is pedantic and boring.
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Um, I left it at home says:
Strange, I thought we already had some kind of voter ID. In the last election, I TRIED to show my ID to the poll person, but she said no thanks. I literally shoved it at her, but she said she didn’t want to see it. I was voting at the Shriners (read “Illuminati”) so maybe they were just planning to vote for me anyway.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
We have something today much more vital than a requirement to show an ID — when you apply to be a registered voter, you sign an affirmation that you are who you are, that the information you have provided in the application is true and correct. If it is found for any reason that the info provided is incorrect, you are subject to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. I think you can count on one hand the number of folks who have been indicted or prosecuted for the offense. This issue is red meat to the Eagle Forum and other right-wing wackos, and Voter ID is a solution looking for a problem.
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Um, I left it at home Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Now that you mention it, that was the other thing that was strange. I hadn’t yet signed my voter registration card, so she made me sign it in front of her.
I agree with you that the affirmation thing works. That’s the same affirmation that Geithner guy had to sign on the bottom of his taxes, and they are making him pay. Rock on.
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Mary May I (artist formerly known as Wallflower Jr) says:
I have known people with disabilities who never got a driver’s license, you know, because they couldn’t drive? And some of them had state IDs and some didn’t. They probably should be able to vote. On the other hand, I only ever use my DL to vote, and they always have to look me up, because I never have my voter registration card on me.
There’s no way you can tell me that requiring an ID smacks of any kind of Jim Crow-era, poll taxin’ sort of scheme. Just like we have voter registration drives, why don’t we help people get state-issued IDs?
but also, seriously folks? we got hit by two hurricanes (really three if you count gustav), flooding on the rio grande, and all kinds of other problems since the last session. And this is what our elected officials are going to start the session with? Really? Thanks for showing up. A-holes.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Mary, you answer your own question — a number of folks, at no fault of their own, don’t have an ID, and it costs them time and money to get one. I’d argue that it makes no difference to the person seeking to vote whether they have to pay DPS for an ID, or the voter registrar in the form of a poll tax — it has the same impact.
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eileen says:
The “election officials” in my precinct are 90 years old. And those are the young ones. If you want to curb voter fraud, start with Grandma.
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texun Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
You’re lucky, Eileen: you have some of the younger election officials. In my precinct, half of them thought the presidential race was between Truman and Dewey. For the other half, it was FDR vs. Alf Landon.
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eileen says:
Note to readers RE: 1nD Stink
If we ignore him, he will go away. It’s like giving an unruly child the silent treatment.
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Brick Pollitt says:
ok
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Mary May I (artist formerly known as Wallflower Jr) says:
Why couldn’t IDs be free? As a way to make things easier for utility companies, landlords, law enforcement, EMTs, etc., wouldn’t it be good for everyone to have an ID?
Then again, I part dramatically from my fellow liberals when it comes to things like privacy. Bring on the chip, baby. I want to wave my wrist and have my latte paid for–and really my milk preferences already known, too. Go ahead and tap my phone, too. You’ll probably regret it, but I don’t mind.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Did you think we were going to ask before we tapped your phone? Not our style.
Can I go back to a previous comment you made — “They probably should be able to vote.” There is no “probably” or “should” about it, under our system, every citizen should not only be able but should be encouraged to vote. In most advanced countries, the right to vote is concurrent with citizenship — you can show up anywhere and vote and this lasts until death or you are found guilty of a felony. Keep in mind the entire voter registration system that we now employ was designed to exclude, opt-out all and affirmatively require those wishing to participate to ‘apply’ for the privilege, reapply if you move, reapply if you are purged, on it goes. And if you’re really special and live in Waller County, you can have your repeated registration applications denied by the Republican White voter registrar who thinks the the Black students at PVA&M shouldn’t be allowed to vote. I kid you not — this is Texas in the 21st century.
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check12 says:
ok
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whiskeydent says:
This crap is catnip for rich right-wingers and racists. You know, the Republican base.
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Um, I left it at home says:
You forgot to say “clinging to their guns and religion.”
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snickersmom says:
I thought squinting helped your hearing?! :)
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Calculatin' Coke says:
We are still a mere generation away from when voter registration people were led at gun point off South Texas ranches trying to register folks. Carole was Mayor of Austin at that time.
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check12 says:
We really don’t give those things much thought, look at Prairie View A&M, they will not even let the students there register to vote in that county because they say they don’t really live there.
I mean there is voter suppression all over the state…
Especially in Harris County, the former tax collector resigned after the last election after there was lawsuit filed due to abnormalities with voter registration (I am not saying that is why he resigned just that he did after it was filed, no cause and effect suggested or implied)
We need to have day of registration and anyone asking for any kind of state aide, be it CHIP, WIC or anything should have to register to vote, that would be a start.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
And just to expand upon check12’s point, it took the United States Supreme Court to rule specifically on the right of Praire View students to vote in Waller County, finding that they had the right to vote there, and the local registrar still refused to register those students. The issue was and is settled law.
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MonkeyMan says:
Kudos to Kirk Watson — very good speech. Probably is falling on deaf ears, but it needs to be said. This is all on Dewhurst’s hands.
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MonkeyMan says:
Ellis as well — amen!
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WTF says:
There’s an important point here about which none of you are sufficiently outraged!
The voters have spoken. They have elected enough Dems. to block horrible Repubublican legislation under the long standing rules, and the damn criminal Republicans are trying to subvert the system by changing the rules.
They don’t give a damn about representation or the will of the people. They only care about their personal power.
They should be ashamed.
But they aren’t.
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The Ghost of Sam Houston says:
Dewhurst must have designs on higher office and he sees this as a way to curry favor with the base.
/because personal ambition trumps public policy
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texun says:
Apart from his considerable fortune, Dewhurst, like Abbott and Gov. Hair has only the American Vulture Forum left as base. Younger conservatives and some old-timers have little interest in the diversionary cultural wars that some Republicans depend on to hang on.
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txasslm says:
for those who believe the senate has violated the will of the people on the voter ID issue –
seventy per cent of the people want such a bill.
that’s from a survey done by the well respected texaspolitics at UT: http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/11_2_3.html
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Assuming that’s correct, it doesn’t add anything to the debate of whether a century-old tradition should be summarily disregarded.
You know this is a huge simplification of a very complex issue — as an example, if you asked most folks in a poll if they support landscaping, you’d get huge majorities saying yes, but if you ask them if they support using limited supplies of water for the sole purpose of sustaining asthetic improvements to lawns, I think you’d get a different response.
And the point Sen. Carona made should not be lost — the purpose of the 2/3rd’s Rule is to foster civility and encourage compromise. R’s could have easily worked out a deal on Voter ID, but they were unwilling to compromise. The incentive to craft a moderate, reasonable piece of legislation on this issue has now been removed. Whatever is produced as a result of this rule change will have to overcome the taint of illegitimacy, and probably years of challenge in the courts. Thanks, Dewhurst!
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Mary May I (artist formerly known as Wallflower Jr) says:
oh, MonkeyMan…just to clarify on something from middle of the discussion, of course everyone has the right to vote. I was saying that SARCASTICALLY. You know. Also. I was trying to be pithy (and obviously not coming off that way…).
Changing subjects–have any of you heard about Ellis’s push for a state Holocaust/genocide museum? I’m only hearing bits and pieces.
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MonkeyMan Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Yes, the bill he filed is available at this link:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/pdf/SB00160I.pdf
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