Voter Identification Report

The 2013 law requiring Texans to show a valid identification card before voting in any election has caused quite a controversy since its implementation even though the national Constitution clearly specifies any state is allowed to require what it deems necessary to ensure lawful elections. The main incentive for implementing the requirement was “… a fear of voter fraud (especially, a suspicion that non-citizens who are illegally in this country are voting) (Denniston, 2014). While this law while hopefully reduce the amount of scams, some citizens still challenge the law, claiming it will affect low income, and usually Democratic, votes. Although it has proven to cause disagreement and could cause Texas to have an even lower voter turnout,
Holder, 2013). Shelby County, Alabama protested this section claiming that Congress had no constitutional right to do so. Because of the 5-4 turnout in the Supreme Court, that section of the Voting Rights Act was declared unconstitutional which was the final phase in the voter ID laws becoming effective. Without the national government being allowed to prevent Texas from applying this requirement on those grounds, the law was once again proven to be in accordance with federal
If those who argue that lower income voters will no longer be able to vote are correct, their claim is null due to the fact that impoverished counties rarely do. Forrest Wilder (2010) proves this in the article “Why Don’t Texans Vote?” when he provides “Six of the seven precincts in Presidio County – one of the poorest counties in the nation – had fewer than half of the registered voters come to the polls in 2008” along with “Even in Travis County, which frequently posts the highest urban turnout in the state, there is a stark contrast. The more affluent sectors of Austin largely vote, and the historically black and brown East Side largely don’t.” Due to a plethora of statistics that match the ones Wilder mentions, I do not think this law will have any affect on the voter turnout. Those who are unable to afford government issued identification of some type were more than likely not participating voters any, so the requirement should not hinder