Letter to DOJ

It is no secret that the big thing at the Legislature this week will be voter ID. Our executive director, Terri Burke, has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Here's an excerpt:

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear General Holder,
The ACLU of Texas supports the request by Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston that the U.S. Justice Department give advice on proposed legislation to require photo identification for Texas voters.

If passed, SB362 will no doubt increase the number of provisional ballots that are cast and also increase the number of votes that are rejected due to new identification requirements. In the last election, more than three-fourths of the provisional ballots cast were thrown out. This may suggest serious errors in our elections procedures. Voter ID will only add to the problem and cost more Texans their right to vote.


Click here to download the entire letter as a PDF.

As you know, things got contentious at the start of the session when the Senate voted to suspend its two-thirds rule for the sake of passing a voter ID bill. Stay tuned as hearings on voter ID, aka SB362, are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Senate chamber.