Primary elections show ID law works

Published 11:39 pm Saturday, April 5, 2014

1. Texas asks appeals court to uphold voter photo ID law
2. Federal ruling on North Carolina voting laws bolsters voter ID laws in Texas and other states

Texas held its first election with the Voter ID law in effect, and the results are in — ballot integrity won. According to election officials, including Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, the new law presented little difficulty for either voters or precinct workers.

“The final results of the 2014 Democratic and Republican March 4th Primary Elections have been approved by the Democratic and Republican Parties,” Stanart reported last week. “The results show that less than 0.01 percent of the voters did not present one of the forms of photo identification required to vote at the poll.”

He went on to say, “Thus far, voters have adapted quickly and have made the implementation of the photo identification requirement at the poll a success. The predictions of dire consequences of the Photo ID law simply did not happen. The doom and gloom rhetoric has not matched the positive results in the third largest county in the nation.”

The results in Harris County mirror those in Smith County, according to Smith County Elections Administrator Karen Nelson. In the March 10 primaries, a total of six voters went to the polls without the proper ID, and they were all allowed to vote by provisional ballot. And voter participation numbers were up over the midterms four years ago (though this had more to do with contested races than with any ID laws).

“As I talk to other elections folks in Northeast Texas, I hear the same thing,” Nelson says. “We didn’t see the problems some were expecting.”

There’s one notable exception, however. And it’s from an unlikely quarter. Democratic state Rep. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth wants an investigation into voter fraud in the primary race he lost to challenger Ramon Romero Jr.

Burnam opposed the Voter ID in the Legislature, saying it’s unnecessary and discriminatory.

“The court has recognized the Voter ID bill for what it was: a disgraceful attempt by Republicans in the Texas Legislature to hold onto power by suppressing minority voters,” he said in 2012. “Our history of discrimination at the polls in Texas is the great shame of our state, and any politician seeking to revive it should resign his office in dishonor. If we as legislators are not here to protect the fundamental rights of our constituents, what the heck are we there for?”

Now, however, he’s calling on the state to investigate the voter fraud he once denied existed.

“I believe I have no choice after receiving multiple reports of an illegal computerized-signature vote-by-mail operation run to benefit my opponent,” Burnam said in a statement last week. “This operation appears to have clearly violated state law.”

Granted, his lawsuit focuses on absentee ballots, but he has clearly set aside his more general claim that voter fraud is rare or non-existent.

He now recognizes that the integrity of the ballot is crucial. He lost his race by a mere 111 votes, out of more than 5,000 cast.

Nevertheless, the Texas Voter ID law worked; we can be more confident in our political process.