I'm a Texas Election Judge in the shrinking blue dot that is Austin, Travis County. Right on the border with very conservative Williamson County, our Precinct gets a lot of lost voters and many voters who move within the City of Austin, but unknowingly changing counties from Travis to Williamson county and vice-versa. In Texas, that's a deal breaker.
But yesterday was also the first time that I observed casualties of the currently unconstitutional (but still enforced) Texas Voter ID law. Here's my list. If you are an election official in Texas or have first hand knowledge of other casualties in Texas, please list below.
If your State also has Voter ID in place, feel free to weigh in. Note the State in your comments. Thanks,
1) I'd swear she was a James O'Keefe or TrueTheVote plant. Attractive woman with NC TxDL but Travis County voter card who said she did not have time to get a TxDL and who's Passport was expired. Rather than vote Provisionally and attempt to "Cure the Vote"(tm)(c) Texas GOP, she left saying she didn't have time. But first she made a point to say that she thought the Voter ID law was a good idea.
2) Man in his 50s or early 60s that had an expired Texas Concealed Handgun License, a Real Texan per the Texas GOP. His wallet was in a friend's truck. He sat down to begin the Provisional Ballot / "Cure the Vote"(tm)(c) Texas GOP, process when he saw that he needed to visit a County office sometime in the next 6 days. He thanked me for my service and left me drop mouthed as he walked away. Again, was a fan of the Voter ID law.
3) Late in the day, a State of Texas worker. With a State Agency issued photo badge but an out of state Drivers License she had just obtained as she's in a year long process of moving to another state to be with her daughter and granddaughter. But she will still resides in Texas for at least the next six months. African-American woman, without a lot of time to be taking off in the middle of the day from her State of Texas job. The Provisional Ballot / "Cure the Vote"(tm)(c) Texas GOP process means she'll need to take off from work to go to a Texas Department of Public Safety Drivers License office to obtain a free Voter ID (if she's eligible) or to pay for a Texas DL which she is loathe to do right after she got her destination state Drivers License. She'll then have to miss another period of time at work to go to our County Office to present her new ID and turn her ballot on. (Cure the Vote)
I tried to bolster her as much as possible, given my role, to pursue the TxDPS and then to the County offices so she would not be deprived of her vote. It was hard for me to get a read on whether she had the energy and time to do so. (Another diary is needed about the pacifying Provisional Ballot).
The hopeful side of me says that there was one win and two losses today (1-2), but reality is, it was probably (0-3). That said, the Texas GOP may have deprived themselves of two votes. But they're not worried.