Palmetto State News

Voter ID legislation and election integrity has become a hot-button issue of late, with many Republicans believing that such measures are necessary in order to hold free and fair elections, while Democrats say that more restrictions are oppressive to certain groups and will suppress the vote.

To get more information and background knowledge on voter IDs and IDs in general, the U.S. House Oversight Committee held a meeting July 29 during which U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) questioned Texas state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Democrat, about ID usage as it related to Black voter turnout in Texas. 

A controversial voting law in Texas was temporarily stymied in July, when legislators there, including Thompson, fled the state for Washington, D.C., in order to deny a vote on a Republican bill aimed at tightening election laws.

”You're damn right I left Texas and I'm glad I did. And you know why...I left Texas to give my people a right to be able to vote without them being infringed upon,” Thompson said in  a Real Clear Politics report.

During the questioning seen on the Forbes Breaking News YouTube channel, Mace and Thompson were able to agree that identification cards are necessary to buy alcohol and cigarettes, apply for a job, pickup prescription medications, receive Social Security, rent an apartment, purchase a house, hold a mortgage, fly in an airplane, and open a bank account.

After questioning Thompson about ID cards, Mace shifted to the idea of Black voter suppression in Texas. Through their dialogue, Mace first established that 70% of Black Texans are registered to vote and 64% voted. Next, Mace revealed that 72% of white Texans are registered to vote and 65% voted.

Mace stated that Texas ranked 10th-best in Black voter turnout in the U.S., despite Thompson’s claims of widespread Black voter suppression in Texas.

According to the Honest Elections Project, 77% of voters, including 92% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 63% of Democrats support mandatory voter ID. Sixty-four percent of Black voters, 77% of Hispanics, and 76% of low-income voters disagree with the idea that presenting a form of ID at the ballot-box is a “burden.”

According to a poll by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, 54% of Texans oppose legislators staging walkouts. 

Referring to the Democrat walkouts, TPPF spokesman Brian Phillips stated that “most Texans see it as a childish and desperate move, and they don’t like temper tantrums.”