Voter ID bill may go to Senate floor

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Senate Republicans has been pushing for a voter identification bill to be heard on the Senate floor for several sessions - but he's been stymied by Senate rules he now says he can change.

Bills need the support of two-thirds of the senators on the floor at the time to bring it up - which usually means 21 senators need to sign off on it for it to get a debate.

But Republican senators said they 16 senators - a simple majorty of the chamber's 31 members - needed to change that long-standing two-thirds rule in regards to this particular bill.  Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, sponsored the resolution to change the rules.

Houston Sen. Dan Patrick has also been campaigning on the issue of tossing out the two-thirds rule and was a big supporter of the change.

According to KXAN's political reporter, Jenny Hoff, this rule has never been amended for just one issue.

"[Voting identification] is an overwhelming issue," said Dewhurst. "It doesn't make any difference whether you're Republican or Democrat. Everyone from polling data I've seen, says people want to make sure that only U.S. citizens vote."

The bill requires proof of ID to vote, invalidating the use of simply a voter registration card and, according to critics, alienating poor, elderly and minority voters.

Dewhurst threatened to break or change the two-thirds rule in order to convene the Senate in 2003, when 11 Democrats fled to Albuquerque in protest of mid-term redistricting. He never had to, however, because one Democrat agreed to come back so that the rule would not be broken.