Senate Approves Photo ID’s to Vote

The state Senate last night passed a bill to require a photo ID in order to vote, one of several promised “immigration reform” bills.

Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro sponsored the bill which passed 18-10, largely along party lines with mostly Republican support. Democrats argued that the bill would simply make it harder for poor people to meet voter qualifications.

Nashville Democrat Joe Haynes said the bill will target older voters.

“I believe when you get past 65, you no longer have to have a photograph on your drivers’ license. So this really encompasses a lot of folks who are not going to have photos. And so, I don’t see any crying need for it. Now when you go into vote, they check your signature.”

During debate on the Senate floor, proponents cited actual cases of voter fraud in Memphis, where precinct officials illegally entered votes for dead and absent voters.

Others say the bill will slow a growing problem of identity theft in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Senator Tommy Kilby, a Democrat from the rural Upper Cumberland region, said his district hasn’t experienced any such voter fraud.

“And I understand 9/11 changed our world, but I’m kind of getting tired of 9/11 being used to … push these regulations and more requirements down our throats.”

The voter ID bill is scheduled for the House Elections subcommittee today.

WEB EXTRA

The voter ID bill, SB 0227 Ketron/HB 0938 Maggart, is on the calendar of the House Elections Subcommittee today [Tuesday], in the last announced meeting of that subcommittee. House Democrats control that subcommittee and may try to kill the bill at that step.

In another partisan fight, the Senate Monday night adopted a set of permanent parliamentary rules. Under the new rules the Senate will require a super-majority of 22 in the 33-member Senate to change any individual rule.

Each Party has only 16 members, with one senator identified as an Independent.

Since the Senate Republican Caucus lost its 17th member, Democrats have looked for a way to reargue their case for more representation on key committees.

The new super-majority rule – actually a return to an old rule the Senate had in the past – will cut off any chance of forcing the Republican speaker to reassign committee seats.

But Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle said Speaker Ron Ramsey set a bad precedent in allowing the rules to be adopted with only 16 affirmative votes – one less than the constitutional majority which Kyle argued should be the requirement for final action on any measure.

In a written statement, Kyle said:

“Tonight, Speaker Ramsey in a premeditated attack upon the State constitution redefined what a constitutional majority is by arbitrarily deciding that only 16 votes are necessary for final action in the Senate – rather than the 17 votes that have always been required. This body has never passed a bill or a committee report with fewer than 17 votes. Government cannot work unless everyone plays by the rules and if everyone knows those rules can’t be changed in the middle of the game. Tonight, it was more important for Republicans to win than it was for the majority to rule.

“It’s clear that Senate Republican Leader Senator Mark Norris successfully railroaded this report through on a night when he knew that some Democratic senators were absent. It was important to the Republican Caucus that the Senate rules not reflect their loss of the majority and the fact that there are an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.”