Texas Democrats who left their state in order to block the Texas GOP from passing voting reform have protested that the GOP’s ID requirements for voting are too strict.
Yet last September, one of those Democrats, state representative Erin Zwiener, commenting on a neighborhood cleanup in Kyle, Texas, supported residents using a photo ID or local utility bill to identify themselves.
She tweeted, “Hey y’all, the city of Kyle is hosting a neighborhood clean-up from 8 AM-1130 AM tomorrow morning at Gregg-Clarke Park. Kyle residents will be required to: Bring a photo ID. Bring a City of Kyle Utility bill. Be prepared to help unload at the drop site. Wear a face mask.”
Hey y'all, the city of Kyle is hosting a neighborhood clean-up from 8 AM-11:30 AM tomorrow morning at Gregg-Clarke Park.
Kyle residents will be required to:
· Bring a photo ID
· Bring a City of Kyle Utility bill
· Be prepared to help unload at the drop site
· Wear a face mask pic.twitter.com/vLH15VGI1s— Erin Zwiener (@ErinForYall) September 18, 2020
On Tuesday night, Zwiener, apparently referring to The Washington Free Beacon story about her, tweeted, “Want to know how desperate Republicans are? A right wing site is about to use this tweet as evidence that I’ve organized events that require ID. Never mind that: 1. I didn’t organize this event. The City of Kyle did. We just shared, as we do. 2. HB 3 isn’t about voter ID.”
Want to know how desperate Republicans are? A right wing site is about to use this tweet as evidence that I’ve organized events that require ID.
Never mind that:
1. I didn’t organize this event. The City of Kyle did. We just shared, as we do.
2. HB 3 isn’t about voter ID. https://t.co/yreOuIJYYa
— Erin Zwiener (@ErinForYall) July 20, 2021
Democrats have opposed voter I.D. for some time, most recently by passing H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” this year. The bill passed in the House, but the Senate GOP blocked the bill as it needed 60 votes to pass. Former Vice President Mike Pence pointed out that if the bill passed, “State and local election officials would be stripped of their ability to maintain the accuracy of voter rolls, barred from verifying voter eligibility, and voter ID would be banned from coast to coast.”
National Review reported on H.R. 1:
H.R. 1 bars states from checking with other states for duplicate registrations within six months of an election. It bars removing former voters from the rolls for failure to vote or to respond to mailings. … H.R. 1 bars anyone but an election official from challenging a voter’s eligibility to vote on Election Day — thus insulating Democrat-run precincts from scrutiny. State voter-ID laws are banned, replaced simply by a sworn voter statement.
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell noted in April, “This legislation sabotages state voter ID requirements by forcing states to allow anyone to vote, with or without an ID, if they sign an unverifiable statement attesting to their eligibility. Plainly stated the bill would eliminate voter ID in 35 states.” Blackwell, who is black, added, “It never ceases to amaze me that Democrats believe African Americans don’t have, and aren’t capable of obtaining, an ID.”
CNN’s Chris Cillizza pointed out in late June, “Voter ID has been one of the central fights between the two parties over the past decade or so. Republicans say it’s a common sense measure to avoid voter fraud. Democrats say it’s a not-so-subtle attempt to discourage minority voters to cast a ballot.”
Ariel Edwards-Levy, the polling and election analytics editor at CNN, added, “In an April CNN poll, 64% of Americans said that requiring voters to provide photo identification before casting a ballot would make elections more fair. In a March AP-NORC poll, 72% of Americans said they favored requiring photo ID to vote, and in an April Pew Research Center poll, 76% were in favor. Those latter two polls find near-universal backing among Republicans, along with support from a smaller majority of Democrats.”
The American Civil Liberties Union slammed voter ID laws, writing, “Voter ID laws deprive many voters of their right to vote, reduce participation, and stand in direct opposition to our country’s trend of including more Americans in the democratic process.”