Saturday, September 17, 2011

How to Vote in Texas if You Are Not a Citizen

So I was at a couple of Democratic events today, a monthly meeting of the newly formed group Fort Bend Silver Democrats (website can be found here), and then in the afternoon a summit meeting of Democratic county chairs and other interested parties for Texas Senate District 18.

At both meetings, the same guest speaker, a local lawyer who volunteers his services to help people cast their votes, had a presentation on the newly passed but soon to be reviewed (by the Department of Justice) Texas law on voter photo ID.

Soon now, you will not be able to vote in Texas unless you have one of 5 forms of identification: A valid Texas drivers license, a DPS-issued election identification certificate, a United States passport, a US military ID card, and… and … a license to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety.

Now, of the five forms of identification there is only one that does not require you to produce proof of US citizenship. Guess which one?

And yes, you guessed right. The License to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety does not include a provision that ensures that the license holder is a citizen of the United States.

Don’t believe me? It’s here.

But I will post the required information to get a conceal/carry license below for those who are averse to clicking.

  • Social security number,
  • Valid driver license or identification card,
  • Current demographic, address, contact, and employment information,
  • Residential and employment information for the last five years (new users only),
  • Information regarding any psychiatric, drug, alcohol, or criminal history (new users only),
  • Valid email address, and
  • Valid credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express)
Can foreign nationals not have any of the above? The answer is a definite no. So if someone wants to live in my country and not be a citizen, the only way that they would be allowed to vote under the new voter ID law is to have applied for and received a valid license to carry a concealed weapon.

I love irony.

And thanks to Don for putting this thought in my mind for further research.

5 comments:

JJR said...

You have to at least be a legal resident alien (i.e. w/ green card) over 21 in order to even buy a handgun in Texas, but on the other hand, you wouldn't even have to buy one to take a CHL course; there are plenty of ranges that will let you rent one of their guns to use for the shooting qualification portion of the test.

The CHL also requires an FBI/DPS criminal background check, but if the person has a squeeky clean record then nothing will pop up and they should pass with flying colors, I would think.

As you say, quite an irony.

Greg said...

One problem with your argument -- look at the second requirement to get that handgun permit. Yeah, that's right -- the drivers license. Guess your argument fails under your own argument.

Hal said...

So you are saying that foreign nationals don't drive?

Warner said...

You don't need to prove US Citizenship for a driver's licence, valid work permit is sufficient.

You also don't need to be a US Citizen to have a US military ID, spouses get ID cards but are not always citizens, and there is no citizen requirement on enlisting (or on being drafted).

Susan said...

Greg is such a tool. No, seriously, such a tool.

Actually the 911 terrorists would have qualified for a handgun license in Texas. Actually, you don't even have to live in Texas to get a Texas handgun license. So, we could bring in a bunch of Massachusetts liberals, put them up at the Holiday Inn (because Texas law says you live where you say you live), get them a Texas handgun permit and vote them here.

Susan