Quick Note: A True Texas Voting Tragedy

Olester McGriff lives in Dallas where he has voted previously.

Mr. McGriff has had a kidney transplant and is no longer able to drive.  His license to drive expired in 2008. 

Mr. McGriff, fully aware of the new law, did not want to wait until the last minute to get the a new identification card since he has difficulty getting around and is dependent on others to get him where he needs to be.  He began his attempt back in May.  That month, he was visiting in Grand Prairie and his host took him to the proper office, but he was told he was outside his home county and they could not issue him an ID.  In July, he got a ride to an office within Dallas County, but was told they were out of IDs and he would have to come back another day.

This is almost unbelievable.  The state knows there are hundreds of thousands of people in Texas who will need new state IDs and they don't print enough?  If I were in a truly cynical state of mind, I would be tempted to call that a purposeful error.

This past week, Susan McMinn, an election volunteer, gave him a ride to the polls.  He brought his expired driver's license (which includes his photo to prove he is, in fact, Olester McGriff), his birth certificate, (which is required to get a non-driver state ID), his voter registration card, (to show that he had registered and voted previously), and other documentation, (just in case).  He hoped, since he had no luck getting an non-driver ID, that he was carrying enough proof of his identity that he could cast his vote.  The poll workers told Mr. McGriff that they did not issue IDs and none of his paperwork was sufficient to allow them to give him a ballot.

Here is a man who has made multiple attempts to follow a ridiculous, statistically unnecessary and obstructive law that requires a photo ID to be able to vote.  The man obviously has a photo ID on his driver's license and a driver's license is one of the acceptable IDs under the new law; but his is not good enough because it's expired.  That doesn't make the photo any less valid, it just keeps people like Mr. McGriff from voting--which, since he is black--is the real point of the law in the first place.  

GOP, does this make you proud? And shame on you, Supreme Court, for your complicity in this American tragedy.