Texas House Approves Bill Requiring Voters To Show ID
AUSTIN (AP) - The Texas House gave final passage Thursday to a bill requiring residents to show photo identification before voting.
The House, as expected, voted 101-48 along mostly party lines to send the bill back to the Senate. The two chambers will have to reconcile minor differences and settle on a compromise version before the legislation can go to Gov. Rick Perry and be signed into law. Perry gave the bill "emergency" status earlier this year, putting it on the legislative fast track.
Democrats, who fought without success to soften the bill in a major floor debate Wednesday, say it will make it harder for poor and minority Texans to vote. Republicans, including all members of the Hispanic Republican Conference, say it's needed to reduce voter fraud.
The legislation, as currently written, would require voters to present valid state or federal photo identification. A driver's license, personal ID card, military ID, passport or concealed handgun permit would be accepted. Voters who don't have an ID could get one for free from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Voters who could prove they had been victims of identify fraud would be exempt from the new rules.
Voters without ID could cast provisional ballots but would have to show identification within six days to have their votes counted.
Republicans have been working to pass voter ID legislation for several years, and Democrats have been fighting it ferociously.
Perry applauded passage of the bill in a statement emailed to reporters and said he looked forward to the legislation "reaching my desk very soon."
At least eight U.S. states have strict photo ID requirements, according to a late 2010 study by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Since Republicans gained power in last year's elections, photo ID bills have been working their way through state legislatures, including in Arkansas, Kansas and North Carolina. The Texas legislation is modeled after similar laws in Georgia and Indiana, its Republican sponsors said.
A single legislator, Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, broke from the party line to join Republicans in supporting the bill. He said he saw no "undue burden" for voters.
"I kept party politics out of it," he said.
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