Ok, point by point. I will come back to the affecting poor. I don't apply for government benefits. My banking account is over 15 years old. I never had to reshow my ID after a while. My signature works at my branch. There are many cell phone companies that will accept 3 or more forms of secondary ID. Do not need state ID. No one is going to card me for beer anymore.
"Still, sans any other form of ID, municipalities issue no cost / low cost ID card strictly for voting." This is where the wrong begins. From the SCOTUS opinion 16-393
2. From 2003 until 2013, in-person voters in Texas could cast a regular ballot by presenting a voter registration certificate, which is mailed to voters free of charge upon registration and is reissued every two years.
Voters appearing without a certificate still could cast a regular ballot by executing an affidavit of eligibility and presenting an alternate form of state-specified identification, such as a current or expired driver’s license; an employee or student identification card; a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or government document showing the voter’s name and address; or government mail addressed to the voter. During the decade in which those practices were in effect, approximately 20 million votes were cast in general elections in Texas. Only two cases of in-person voter impersonation were identified and prosecuted to conviction.
The law changed the majority of what the law was from 2003-2013. That was the issue. Further these changes violated federal law
When SB14 was enacted, Texas was subject to Section 5 of the VRA, 52 U.S.C. 10304, which required preclearance for jurisdictions identified under the formula specified in Section 4(b), 52 U.S.C. 10303(b). In March 2012, the Department of Justice denied preclearance.
Here is the disproportion.
The court found that more than 608,000 registered Texas voters lack the identification necessary to cast a regular, in-person ballot under SB14 and that a sharply disproportionate number of those voters are African American or Hispanic.
Link to the opinion
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/16-393-BIO-US.pdf
It never ceases to amaze me how much I have in common with so many people so little like me. I got a head start. As a young man I spent most of my free time with old men.
