Texas Republicans have skipped preclearance procedures (mandated by the Voting Rights Act) of their Voter ID law with the Department of Justice by seeking preclearance with the D.C. District Court. While this is legal, they are doing so because they know it is very unlikely the DOJ will allow this law with its resulting voter suppression in Texas. You may recall that the DOJ refused preclearance for South Carolina’s Voter ID law late last year.

If this law passes, millions will be impacted. Consider these voters:

• University students who cannot use their university photo IDs
• Seniors who have no passport, driver license or other state-issued ID
• Women whose names do not exactly match from state-issued IDs to voter registration cards due to marriage or divorce
• Low-income Texans who do not have the funds to pay for the supporting documents required to obtain a “free” state-issued ID solely for voting purposes

Powerful Republicans know this will suppress the vote of women, seniors, college students and minorities. And that’s exactly the point.

Will you or someone you know be affected by this law if it’s upheld? Please let us know by emailing us.  Real-life accounts of how this horrible law will affect Texas voters are extremely important in helping us get our message out.  We want to share your story with the Texas Democratic Party.

Thanks,
Steve

Tomorrow night President Obama will address the nation in his third State of the Union. You can preview his speech online here.

Across the country and here in Tarrant County, Democrats and progressives will gather to watch it live and discuss President Obama’s Blueprint for an America Built to Last.

Find a watch party near you using www.barackobama.com. Attend and meet new people and tell them about their Tarrant County Democratic Party and how they can help re-elect President Obama and elect Democrats locally to fight for Tarrant County’s Veterans, seniors and children.

President Obama’s speech begins at 8:00 p.m. Central. Tune in, take advantage of this opportunity to meet like-minded folks and talk about your Democratic party’s plans for 2012.

And please help me welcome Taylor Holden, the new North Texas Regional Field Director of Organizing for America. Organizing for America is about to hit the ground running and is looking for organizing fellows. You can learn more about the program by contacting Taylor at atxtaylorh@gmail.com and 512.470.0181. The application is online here.

Thanks,
Steve

The following is a statement from Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairman Steve Maxwell on today’s Supreme Court ruling:

“Attorney General Abbott stated today that “the Supreme Court confirmed that the San Antonio court drew illegal maps…”. As a lawyer, Abbott should be capable of a better understanding of the Supreme Court’s decision. He has totally missed the point. The Supreme Court has indeed vacated the maps drawn by the Federal Court in San Antonio. It has NOT declared these maps to be “illegal”, as Abbott said.

The Supreme Court has merely noted that the San Antonio court did not properly cite the standards by which it was guided in drawing its maps. The job of preparing new maps has been returned to the San Antonio court so that they can be redrawn.

Notably, the Supreme Court makes it clear that even if the Legislature’s maps should be given due consideration as to their intent, it does not mean that either Section 2 or Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act can be either ignored, or minimized. Indeed, the Supreme Court’s decision makes it clear that the preclearance required under Section 5 is an absolute requirement before the Legislature’s maps can be implemented. The San Antonio court, therefore, can still make the determination that the D.C. court will refuse preclearance of the Legislature’s map; or, it can wait for the ruling of the D.C. court.

The San Antonio court can, and will be guided both by the ruling of the D.C. Court of the Section 5 issues, and its own determination of the Section 2 issues. We could very easily see the San Antonio court return with the same map it prepared in November — only this time, the necessary legal justification will be clearly stated.”