Emails, Tom “Smitty” Smith, director, Texas office, Public Citizen, April 19, 2016
From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 9:42 AM
To: Tom Smith
Subject: Urgent inquiry for a fact check
Good morning.
I write mindful of the 600,000 figure Tom presented his analysis/oped column published recently by the Statesman, in this statement: “Texas has 600,000 registered voters who don’t have the kind of photo ID needed to vote.”
For a fact check of your statement, could you provide the factual basis of that figure?
I wonder if the figure relates to what Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak critiqued in this April oped commentary, as quoted below:
“But a study showed that 500,000 registered voters in Texas don’t have a photo ID. This so-called study came from an exercise that the Obama administration’s Justice Department forced the state to take part in as part of litigation.
“The state of Texas does not stand by this study because the methodology is bad. The exercise compared the voter registration database of DPS-issued driver licenses and personal ID cards but omitted every other legal photo ID, including passports and concealed-handgun licenses. Those that matched were listed as registered voters who had a photo ID. But the ones that didn’t match — the 500,000 statistic — doesn’t prove anything because those two databases were never created to be matched, resulting in a large number of Texans to fall on the “no-match” list, which allows Voter ID opponents to claim 500,000 Texans don’t have a photo ID. As one example, this “study” said the state’s Director of Elections did not have a photo ID when he actually did.”
Thanks.
g.
W. Gardner Selby
Reporter / News
Austin American-Statesman
PolitiFact Texas
From: Tom Smith
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 10:38 AM
Subject: RE: Urgent inquiry for a fact check
Gardner- here is the source - my people are looking for other sources, too – we’ll get back to you as we get more info.
11:41 a.m.
Gardner- here are two other cites from Judge Ramos’ opinion:
Case 2:13-cv-00193; Document 628 Filed in TXSD on 10/09/14
*** District Court Opinion (Judge Ramos TXSD - Corpus Christi) p. 47 (Oct. 2014)
"Representative Smith expected that SB 14 might cause up to 700,000 voters to be
without necessary ID.187
187 Smith, D.E. 578, pp. 327-28. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst testified that he estimated 3-7% of registered voters did not
have a Texas DPS-issued ID and believed the number could be as high as 844,000 based on what he had learned
from the unpublished SOS no-match exercise. See Dewhurst, D.E. 588, pp. 70-73.
Multiple Brennan Center links - here’s a couple:
District Court opinion, p. 44 (Oct. 2014)
"(3) the plight of many qualified and
registered Texas voters who did not have and could not get such ID without overcoming
substantial burdens.176
176 Davis, D.E. 573, pp. 39-40; Ellis, D.E. 573, pp. 188-89; Anchia, D.E. 573, pp. 360-61; Patrick, D.E. 588, p. 251.