Standing Room Only

The Texas Showboat--excuse me, the Texas Legislature--has a new performance on the boards: requiring voters to produce picture IDs.

Obviously this requirement is aimed at somebody, but who? The first thought is illegal Mexican immigrants, but they don't vote anyway. Staying under the radar is their modus operandi. The second thought is fraudulent voters who cast their ballots more than once. But all they have to do is run off another batch of driver's licenses in the back room. The third thought is political bosses who vote people from the cemetery. But political bosses that powerful can find ways to suborn picture ID requirements too.

The fourth possibility is that the Legislature wants to disenfranchise older people who no longer drive but like to clog up the voting booths. Aha! That's it! Golden Oldies might not want to go to the bother of asking someone to drive them to the nearest DPS outlet, often in the next county. And they might find it uncomfortable or physically painful to stand in line for things like ID cards.

On the positive side, I assume that requiring us all to produce picture IDs will eliminate the need for voter registration cards, which will save the State some money. Maybe even enough to pay for supervision of each voting precinct by picture ID police.