The only competitive congressional race in Texas this year pits incumbent Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego against Republican William Hurd in the massive 23rd district, which stretches across the entire southwestern part of the state. Its also the race most likely to be affected by Texas strict new voter ID law. Thats bad news for Gallego. Texas new voting law requires that voters provide an approved form of government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. Minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic, are less likely to have a government-issued ID. The 23rd district is 70 percent Latino. That has to benefit Hurd slightly and hurt Gallego slightly, Mark Jones, chairman of the Rice University Political Science Department, told the El Paso Times in mid-October. Gallego told the Times last month that he expected some people to be prevented from voting because of the new law: If one voter gets turned away from the polls, thats one voter too many. -Erika
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 19:10:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015