Justice Department rejects Texas' voter ID law, but court fight goes on

Enlarge This Image Jacquelyn Martin/ASSOCIATED PRESS Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez calls Hispanic ID disparity significant. Enlarge This Image Larry Kolvoord/AMERICAN-STATESMAN Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit earlier this year to fast-track voter ID law.

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 9:26 p.m. Monday, March 12, 2012

Citing concerns about discrimination, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to give its blessing Monday to the voter identification law passed last year by the Texas Legislature.

The rejection of the law, which would require a voter to present a valid form of government-issued identification before casting a ballot, means a continued fight between the administration of President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in Texas.

Because of histories of racial or ethnic discrimination, Texas and several other states and municipalities, mostly in the South, must go through a process called pre-clearance before any changes can be made to their election laws. As part of the process, outlined in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the onus is on the state to prove that changes to election law are not retrogressive, or leading to a reduction in minority voting strength.

In its letter rejecting Texas' voter ID law, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez said that the state failed to prove that the law "will not have a retrogressive effect, or that any specific features of the proposed law will prevent or mitigate that retrogression."

The department also noted that the state could not explain the difference between two sets of numbers it provided about voters who lacked driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards. But from the information provided by the state, federal officials discerned that between 603,892 and 795,955 registered voters lack a driver's license.

And in terms of minorities, the Justice Department concluded that Hispanics are at least 46.5 percent — and potentially as much as 120 percent — more likely than non-Hispanics to lack a driver's license or state-issued ID card.

"Even using the data most favorable to the state, Hispanics disproportionately lack either a driver's license or a personal identification card issued by DPS, and that disparity is statistically significant," Perez's letter said.

Separate from the Justice Department's action, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit earlier this year in an effort to fast-track the law. If a federal court in Washington decides in Abbott's favor, then the Justice Department rejection Monday would be overruled.

But no matter what happens, it appears unlikely that a voter ID policy could go into effect in time for the May 29 primaries.

There is only one deadline in the case: The Justice Department has until April 9 to respond to the state's attempt to have the law approved. After that, there is nothing forcing the court to act by any specific date.

The decision from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department drew mixed reaction from both sides of the debate over the voter ID bill, which was written by state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and sponsored by state Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Houston.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat and chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, cheered the department's action, saying the law would disenfranchise the minority community.

"Should this legislation ever see the light of day, it would immediately become the strictest voter qualification law since the poll tax," Martinez Fischer said in a statement. "Worse yet, photo identification requirements for voters drastically affect the electoral participation of the poor, the elderly and the transient, which means those who need their government's ear most will be the last to be heard."

On the other side of the issue, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, called the move "another example of the Obama administration's abuse of executive authority."

Harless said she was disappointed that the Justice Department did not approve the law but is confident that Abbott's legal action "will result in full implementation of the photo voter ID law ensuring that our elections are conducted fairly and without fraud."

In a statement Monday, Abbott said that since 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted more than 100 defendants for election fraud, and he said his office has secured 50 convictions during the same period.

But during the debate on the Senate bill, Democrats argued that voter fraud was not nearly the problem that Republicans said it was.

On Monday, the Justice Department seemed to agree.

"We note that the state's submission did not include evidence of significant in-person voter impersonation not already addressed by the state's existing laws," Perez wrote.

The Justice Department's decision Monday shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise to anyone involved in the voter ID issue. During a December speech in Austin, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called for more aggressive federal review of voter ID laws. Also in December, the Justice Department rejected South Carolina's voter ID law, saying it makes it too difficult for minorities to cast ballots.

Voter ID law timeline

May 2011: The Legislature passes a law that would require Texas voters seeking to cast ballots to show a valid government-issued identification such as a Texas driver's license, DPS-issued identification card, military card, passport, citizenship certificate or Texas concealed gun license.

Monday: U.S. Department of Justice blocks implementation of the law, saying the state couldn't prove why the measure wouldn't reduce minority voting strength.

What's next: The Texas attorney general's office is awaiting a response from the Department of Justice in a federal lawsuit filed by the state to enact the law immediately. No trial date has been set.

Implication for May primaries: Existing laws will be in effect, and it's unlikely that voters will need to show photo identification.