Texas' New Voting Law

This one strikes close to home for me as I was raised in Texas and only recently left to follow work opportunities. 

From Texas' own website which is an FAQ on the new law:

When a voter arrives at a polling location, the voter will be asked to present one of the seven (7) acceptable forms of photo ID. Election officials will now be required by State law to determine whether the voter’s name on the identification provided matches the name on the official list of registered voters (“OLRV”). After a voter presents their ID, the election worker will compare it to the OLRV. If the name on the ID matches the name on the list of registered voters, the voter will follow the regular procedures for voting.If the name does not match exactly but is “substantially similar” to the name on the OLRV, the voter will be permitted to vote as long as the voter signs an affidavit stating that the voter is the same person on the list of registered voters.If a voter does not have proper identification, the voter will still be permitted to vote provisionally. The voter will have (six) 6 days to present proper identification to the county voter registrar, or the voter’s ballot will be rejected.

So. Breakdown. 7 acceptable form of ID. Ok, lets see what those are:

• Texas driver license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)

• Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS

• Texas personal identification card issued by DPS

• Texas concealed handgun license issued by DPS

• United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph

• United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph

• United States passport

Doesn't look too bad, right? Well, lets do a run down of cost of each of those:

• Drivers License : $25
• Texas Election Identification Card: $Free BUT you have to have Original or Certified copies of various documents--I'll get into that in a bit
• Personal Identification Card: $16
• Texas Conceled Carry: $140
• Military ID: N/A
• Citizenship certificate: $345
• US Passport: $165

So the cost of the proper documentation runs the gambit. The two main issues here are that the "Election Identification Card" requires substantial secondary documents to obtain. From Documentation Requirements, two of the following are required, because the only two accepted Primary identification are...a drivers license or a personal identification card, which invalidate you from getting an Election Identification card.
Secondary identity documents include:

1. Original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by the appropriate State Bureau of Vital Statistics or equivalent agency;
2. Original or certified copy of United States Department of State Certification of Birth (issued to United States citizens born abroad); 
3. Original or certified copy of court order with name and date of birth (DOB) indicating an official change of name and/or gender; or
4. U.S. citizenship or naturalization papers without identifiable photo. 

Original or Certified copies of a birth certificate are $23 through Dallas county, and the statewide system doesn't say on their website what the cost is. An Original or Certified  copy of a US State Department Certificate of Birth is $50.An Original or Certified copy of a name and/or gender change will run you $230 for the original filing, plus $10 for the first certificate, plus any extra fees that I can find referenced, but not values for. (Sorry those of you who are Trans, I had no fucking idea that a simple name change was so goddamn expensive. It was a hassle just getting sorted out for the $25 that cis-women have to pay to get their drivers license fixed.)My google-fu failed and I can't find the cost of citizenship documentation with no photo referenced.

So the "free" option actually runs a realistic minimum of $23, and that's if you have easy access to originals of the 20-odd items in the 'Supporting Identification' category.

So if you're in college, and don't drive, have fun getting this all together, or if you don't live anywhere near one of DMV locations, you're completely out of luck. By the way around 80 of the 254 counties in Texas don't have DMV locations. 

That's just the cost tip of the iceberg.

Lets go back and look at these three sentences from the FAQ. 

Election officials will now be required by State law to determine whether the voter’s name on the identification provided matches the name on the official list of registered voters (“OLRV”). After a voter presents their ID, the election worker will compare it to the OLRV. If the name on the ID matches the name on the list of registered voters, the voter will follow the regular procedures for voting.If the name does not match exactly but is “substantially similar” to the name on the OLRV, the voter will be permitted to vote as long as the voter signs an affidavit stating that the voter is the same person on the list of registered voters.

By these requirements I would not have gotten to vote in last years Presidential election. Why? Even though I'd updated my voter registration card and information, when I went to the polls, they still had my maiden name on the rolls, not my married name that had been in effect for over two years. My Drivers License had my married name, but the because the polls showed my maiden, even with an "acceptable form of ID" I would have had to cast at best a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots aren't even counted until after the fact, and often aren't counted toward the final vote. 

And lets have a lovely illustration out of Corpus Christie where a District Court Judge felt  the effects of this law. Her Voter Registration had her first name, her middle name and her last name. Her drivers license had her first name, maiden name and her last name. This failed the "substantially similar" test required by the new law. She had to sign an affidavit confirming her identity, which by the way, is the exact same thing as a provisional ballot!

So, ladies, trans-women and men, and poor people, it looks like Texas has finally figured out ways to make our votes quite literally not count.

Is anyone else feeling that this timing is not coincidental to Wendy Davis announcing her plans to run for governor?

Life Insanity

Well, the government finally opened back up last week, which means that Hubby and I have been thrown into a whirlwind of preparations. We both got hired by the federal government, with a start date pending based on when the re-opening occurred. As it stands we now start November 4th. 

This is going to be awesome, but the movers are coming Thursday, and we're supposed to be at our new apartment Saturday. Hopefully semi-regular blogging will resume then. I'm thinking a book review, and yes it's being written, no it's not done. 

Yes, this is why the blog has been somewhat neglected.  So, as my apology, have a cat meme.

Pokemon X & Y First Impressions

So my wonderful husband read my mind this morning and went to the local big box shop to pick us both up a copy of Pokemon X and Y. He is  playing version Y while I am playing X.

This is a first impressions from my first 2 hours of fiddling with the game.

I love the mini games, Pokemon Amie and SuperTrainer. These are available from the start and really bring the interaction of the Pokemon and Trainer to life. Pokemon Amie further has 3 more mini games in it that are basic puzzles to let you 'befriend' your Pokemon more.

The mix of new and old Pokemon so far has been perfect. Enough old faces to trigger Red and Blue nostalgia while having enough new that you are always wondering what will pop out of the tall grass next.

The 3D models and form of the game, as far as the standard graphics go, are nice. It feels like the series has finally matured into current generation gameplay.

I am disappointed that some of the "general" trainers you battle are still in 2-D drawings, which is only stark in contrast to the fact that your character is fully animated.

This is the most fun I've had playing a Pokemon game in several years.

Once I've gotten further in the game, I will post a more comprehensive review.

Government Shutdown

Ok, so we're one week into the US Government "Shutdown."

• The CDC is closed, which is disconcerting when you realize that they just got done tracking the epicenter of a measles outbreak in Texas.
• The FDA is severely reduced, listing only 3 current activities. 
• The USDA is completely closed. Which also runs SNAP (food stamps), and WIC, a low income women with children food voucher program.

And that just scratches the tip of it.

Furloughed government employees aren't getting paid, although the House did pass a bill that would allow for retroactive payment of furloughed employees.

Here is a US News article detailing some more of the ripple effects that aren't obvious.
Here is a Wall Street Journal article listing that many defense contractors will be furloughing employees come Monday.

This whole situation is one-half of the House of Representatives deciding they don't like one law, the ACA "Obamacare", and that damaging the country to make a point is more important than admitting they lost that battle. The ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010, which means a form of it made it through the House, through the Senate, and to the President. A challenge to Congresses ability to pass this law was brought before the Supreme court as National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. The Supreme Court upheld Congresses ability to write the ACA, and thus it's Constitutionality and legality on June 28, 2012.

Thus, this behaviour is pure posturing and is frankly disgraceful coming from a governing body.

Congress, as a constituent, I'm requesting that you get your shit together and reopen the government. kthxbai