A day after election officials were reminded to tell voters they could cast ballots if they do not have photo identification, poll workers across Harris County on Tuesday still were giving incomplete instructions to voters waiting in line. A federal judge ordered the state to dilute Texas’ stringent voter ID law to offer citizens without government-issued identifications – about 600,000 people, many of them minorities – the chance to cast ballots using alternative forms of identification. The judge’s order followed a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year that Texas’ voter ID law violated federal ballot-box protections for minorities. Under the watered-down provisions – implemented for the November election only – a voter may cast a ballot after signing a declaration explaining the “reasonable impediment” that prevented him from getting a photo ID, such as a lack of transportation, disability or work schedule. The “declaration” voters must present an supporting identifying document, such as a birth certificate, bank statement or utility bill.
Election clerks at polling places across Harris County on Tuesday, however, still were greeting voters with the familiar welcome: “Have your photo IDs ready.” Election clerks said the vast majority of voters pull out driver’s licenses or one of the six other acceptable identifications allowable under Texas’ Voter ID law, including passports and concealed handgun licenses.
Ballot-access advocates worry that poll workers could be discouraging some voters with the instruction to pull out their photo IDs without mentioning the alternatives, as they were Tuesday at polling locations in Spring Branch, the Hobby Airport area and at Prairie View A&M University’s Northwest campus, according to on-site reporting guided by tips from ProPublica’s Electionland project.
That instruction may not violate the letter of the law, but county and state officials have said it is incomplete. The county clerk’s director of logistics and training, Judy Owens, sent a memo to the election judges who oversee the polling locations on Monday, clarifying the proper language.
Full Article: Harris County early voters greeted with incomplete ID instructions – Houston Chronicle.