An Open Letter to the Texas House of Representatives - Voter ID Legislation

To the Members of the Texas State House of Representatives:

As concerned Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) national and community-based organizations, we urge you to defeat pending voter identification legislation, which would require voters to present identification at their polling places.

We believe that voter ID legislation is detrimental to voter participation and ultimately disenfranchises immigrant, minority, low-income, student, women, and elderly voters. We also believe that voter identification requirements are a mismatched and inadequate policy to address largely unfounded allegations of voter fraud. Voter fraud in the form of impersonation at the polls has not even been proven to occur in the organized manner that some proponents of voter identification want the public to believe.

On April 7, 2009, Texas State Representative Betty Brown had suggested that AAPIs should change their names so that it would be “easier for Americans to deal with.” This culturally insensitive and unacceptable comment in no way addresses the pitfalls of policies that require voter identification at the polls. The voter identification requirement is a primary obstacle for certain U.S. citizens to rightfully exercise their right to vote. It has been found that states with voter ID laws experienced reduced turnout rates of 3% overall in the 2008 elections, with even further reduced rates among minorities.

In addition to voter identification requirements reducing voter participation, equally important points to consider are the following:

• There is a widespread lack of photo identification. Eleven percent of Americans surveyed by the Brennan Center for Justice do not have government-issued photo ID, such as driver’s licenses or state-issued non-driver’s photo ID. According to U.S. Census data, that amounts to greater than 21 million citizens. Those without a photo ID are a disproportionate representation of minority and low-income, and disadvantaged groups: Those without photo ID are disproportionately the elderly, students, women, people with disabilities, low-income people and people of color. According to disability advocates, nearly 4 million of the 40 million Americans with disabilities do not have state-issued photo ID. 

• A voter is likely to be turned away at the polls if their ID card does not have their current address. According to the U.S. Census, Americans have an annual mobility rate of 14%. Even among those citizens who do have photo IDs, a substantial percentage does not show their current address. African Americans and Latinos have a rate of 18%. Those with incomes below the federal poverty level are almost twice as likely to move as those with incomes above the poverty level.

• Voter ID requirements place an inordinate amount of discretion in the hands of undertrained and overworked poll workers. State election systems are underfunded, and do not have the resources to adequately train poll workers. Even under the more lenient requirements of the Help America Vote Act, ID provisions are often implemented in a discriminatory way. According to the nation’s largest nonpartisan exit poll of Asian Americans, nearly 70% of Asian voters were asked for ID at the polls-- in states where no ID was required. In New York City, where there is no ID requirement, a study showed that 1 in 6 Asian Americans were asked for ID, while white Americans in the same study were not asked for ID. Further, in an exit poll of Asian American voters in Houston, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) “found that identification checks were inappropriately or excessively required of only Asian American voters,” when proof of identification was not even required.

In closing, legislation that requires voter identification at the polls adds a dangerous layer to the barriers already facing disenfranchised voters, many of them who are minority and AAPI voters. The undersigned AAPI organizations believe in the democratic political process, and believe that America is made stronger if all can participate. For this reason, ensuring full and equal access to the polling place for all voters is fundamental, and we urge you to defeat attempts to pass voter identification legislation through the Texas State House of Representatives and State Senate.

We welcome open and constructive dialogue about the pending voter identification legislation. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at vidab@apiavote.org, or at 202.223.9170. 

Sincerely, 
 

Vida Benavides

Executive Director

APIAVote 
 
 
 

National Organizations 

Asian American Justice Center

Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Asian Pacific Americans for Progress

Boat People SOS

Japanese American Citizens League

Laotian American National Alliance

National Federation of Filipino American Associations

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

National Asian Pacific Islander Pan-Hellenic Association

National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium

OCA National

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center

South Asian Americans Leading Together

Union of North American Vietnamese Students Association 

Local Partners & Affiliates 

APIAVote – Michigan       (Detroit, MI)  

APIAVote – Philadelphia      (Philadelphia, PA)

APIAVote – WA       (Seattle, WA)

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – D.C.   (Washington, D.C. Metro)

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – Houston   (Houston, TX)

Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon   (Portland, OR)

API Legal Student Association at the UCLA School of Law  (Los Angeles, CA)

Filipinos for Affirmative Action     (San Francisco, CA)

Florida Chinese Federation      (Florida)

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center   (Chicago, IL)

Korean Resource Center      (Los Angeles, CA)

MQVN Community Development Corporation   (New Orleans, LA)

OCA – Greater Houston Chapter     (Houston, TX)

OCA-South Florida Chapter      (Florida)

One APIAVote Nevada      (Clark County, NV)

United Chinese Association of Florida    (Florida)

Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association  (New Orleans, LA)

Young Korean American Service & Education Consortium (New York, NY)