Former San Antonio Mayor Turned Away from the Polls over ID
In a moment of bag of horse manure stupid, 97 year old Lila Cockrell, former mayor of San Antonio, was turned away by officials from the polls for the mayoral runoff last Thursday because she didn’t have the proper ID. Texas has one of the most idiotic voter ID suppression laws in the country. For example, you can vote with your gun license, but can’t vote with your University of Texas ID. The law is an incredible burden for the elderly and economically disadvantaged, as Republicans have made voter fraud suppression a key plank in their platform power grab. Shockingly, the courts have often gone along (or delayed decision until it’s too late) over voter suppression and radical gerrymandering.
To make this story even more enraging, Bexar County voting official Jacque Callanen said (in his most Nazi-like apologist voice), “It was uncomfortable for the election officials to tell her, ‘No.’ Obviously, they knew who she was,” Callanen said. “But the law is the law. The election officials did what they’re supposed to do.” Hey, Jacque – when the law turns away a qualified voter who everyone in the place knows is qualified over “the law”, the goddam law is wrong and needs to be struck down. If Ray Charles were alive today, even he could see that, dumbass.
We all know how important the law is to the NSGOP…
1Stuff I learned today besides JJ’s Salon:
When Texas Governor Greg Abbott was Attorney General, his office had a markedly low number of voter fraud convictions, a total of 46 over 12 years. And even if the 2011 voter ID law had in place during that period, it would have only stopped two of those cases.
Yet the voter ID law codified such a narrow interpretation of acceptable identification that the it left 600,000 Texans without the right ID needed to vote. All to supposedly stop fewer than four people per year from casting inappropriate ballots.
The Texas Tribune reports:
Texas’ strict voter identification requirements kept many would-be voters in a Hispanic-majority congressional district from going to the polls last November — including many who had proper IDs — a new survey shows.
And the state’s voter ID law – coupled with lackluster voter education efforts – might have shaped the outcome of a congressional race, the research suggests.
It should come as no surprise that the current Texas RepublicanParty platform calls for an end to the Voting Rights Act.
https://progresstexas.org/blog/stricken-texas-voter-id-law-allowed-gun-licenses-not-student-id
2I presume the former mayor was a Democrat.
3IMO, this is uncalled for: “Bexar County voting official Jacque Callanen said (in his most Nazi-like apologist voice)”. That said, yeah, it all sucks; but the problems are in AUSTIN, in the totally Rethug controlled exec, lege, and judicial apparatus.
Ms. Callanen is an older lady, ‘her’ not a “his”. And seems to be a pretty dedicated civil servant from seeing her on the news in various elections. Have no idea of her political lean, hopefully in-the-middle and honest. There haven’t been many shenanigans in Bexar County in quite a while [compared to the bad old days].
4A Tea Party victory (are they still around?). As the Founding Fathers intended, they prevented a woman from voting.
5But remember how so many “laws” can be flaunted because they are just irrelevent and “rational” people understand that.
6Laws such as;
The Hatch
Any ethics laws
Any conflicts of interests laws
Emoluments clause of constitition
Campaign finance laws
Laws against Foreign interference in campaigns
Bribery – As far as they are concerned no such thing for thuglicans just the way they do business
Civil Rights laws
Tax laws and the list goes on
But by god allowing a 97 year old female ex mayor that everyone knows and recognizes is just too much of a threat to the republic.
After all one has to draw the line somewhere.
If Mayor Cockrell were a public RW loon there would have been no problem.
When Republicans make accusations, those are actually confessions.
7Can Texans vote by mail? Because that eliminates all the polling place drama.
8I expect that the verminous poll worker cackled with glee at dinner that night, boasting “Guess what I did for fun today! Gawd I lurve having power to wield.
9