Texas Voter ID Law Struct Down

<p>Texas's Senate Bill 14 would have required that all Texas voters <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/us/court-blocks-tough-voter-id-law-in-texas.html" title="Texas Voter ID Law Struck Down By Federal Courts">show ID at polls before being allowed to vote</a>. The Bill allowed for 5 legitimate forms of ID to be suitable. This included a voting ID card that would have costed $22 and required a voter to go to &#160;a specified location to retrieve it. The Texas GOP claims to have created this law to prevent voter fraud. Democrat opposition has cited the law as an attempt to legalize a discriminatory practice that makes it more difficult for minority voters to exercise their right to vote.&#160;</p><br />
<p>I am usually all for GOP bashing, but in this case I see the sense in having&#160;identification&#160;to prevent voting fraud. This is not 1810, the country is far more massive then our fore fathers envisioned. There should certainly be a sensible way to account for and organize voting data, including&#160;requirements&#160;for proof of identification. &#160;Don't get me wrong, I do not believe that the motivations of the Texas GOP are to stem voter fraud, but the proposed concept should be considered on a national level at some point. However, the identification should be provided by the government without fee. Voting is not a&#160;privilege, it is a right. Citizens should not have to pay one single dollar to exercise that right. There is also a touch of irony in the GOP championing the&#160;elimination&#160;of voter fraud at the same time one of their members is&#160;<a href="http://socialjusticesolutions.org/News/archives/356-GOP-Accused-Of-Denying-Voting-Rights-to-Black-Voters.html">claiming&#160;that they commit voter fraud in a systematic way nationally.</a></p>