Dear Editor,

This is regarding the Oct. 14 article titled “Voter ID laws: The new poll tax”. I would have to agree with your statement about Texas voter turnout not living up to the “Texas standard”. That being said, I believe that the reasoning has less to do with voter ID laws and more to do with voter apathy.

There isn’t any reason why any Texan shouldn’t have one of the proper forms of identification. Your article mentioned that SB-14 is detrimental to less educated (non-college educated), working minorities whose voices have been absent from the voting booth.

I strongly disagree with this statement because it seems to paint the picture that non-college educated minorities are in some way inferior in the realm of voting and voter registration. Acceptable forms of identification include Texas driver’s license or photo ID expired by no more than 60 day, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. passport, a military photo ID or a citizenship certificate with photo; all of which can obtained by person with the proper qualifications and the ability to read on a ninth grade level.

One might say that voter registration is so simple, even a caveman can do.

After looking at your statistic on the percentage of voters in the 2012 presidential election broken down by Whites, Blacks and Hispanics, I found no proof that the low turnout rates of minorities was due to prejudicial voter ID laws versus ordinary voter apathy. The statistics that point out that 25 percent of Blacks don’t have a government versus the 8 percent of Whites that don’t, speaks more to the need for community organizers within the black community than some latent function of SB 14 to disenfranchise the Black community.

I fail to see how SB-14 is unconstitutional, as you suggested. The sole basis of the law is to ensure only those who are qualified are able to vote, and that voter fraud is reduced. Getting proper identification shouldn’t be an issue for those who qualify.

I would like to close by saying that I whole-heartedly agree with your call for students to start caring about politics. We are the next generation of policy makers and owe it to ourselves to take this subject matter seriously. Not only for our sake, but also for the sake of future generations that will reap the fruits of our works, be it good or bad.

Sincerely,

Brandon Young

MSW Student