Texas voter ID law goes before federal court

>>> right now, the house of representatives is voting for the 33rd time to repeal the president's health care law . this is only the second time they voted for full repeal of the law. we'll bring you the final tally when it comes in. today's vote all about election year politics. the bill dead on an rival in the senate where the democrats are in control.

>>> eric holder has a scathing characterization of the texas voter i.d. law, the legality of which will be decided this week in federal court .

>> under the proposed law , concealed handgun licenses would be acceptable forms of photo i.d. but student i.d.s would not. many of those without i.d.s would have to travel great distances to get them. and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. we call those poll taxes .

>> the justice department first rejected the law in march deeming it a violation of the voting rights act . the doj says the law could denierly a million mostly hispanic voters a chance to cast their ballot. our friend ari berman writes about the latest developments in this case for the nation. thanks for joining us.

>> thanks for having me.

>> tell us what the latest is in texas .

>> so there's a trial this week in federal court to see whether the texas voter i.d. law does violate the voting rights act . the department of justice said up to 1.4 million voters predominantly hispanic and african-american could be disenfranchised by the new law. that's why it does violate the voting rights act and the law should not go through. there will be a decision probably by the end of august. if texas losses the case, they have vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the voting rights act and this case could be headed to the supreme court sooner rather than later.

>> well, i have a question for my table mates. and go with me for this. question is, should noncitizens of this country be able to vote? go around the table?

>> the answer is no, but voter fraud is a red herring . that's not the issue here.

>> wait. just let me finish this premise.

>> fraud is not the issue here. the disenfranchise chinesement of black and brown people .

>> voter fraud exists.

>> no, it does not exist. berman talked about that yesterday.

>> no examples of voter fraud around the country? it's never happened.

>> the bush justice department which i know you like from 2000 to 2007 did an investigation into voter fraud . they prosecuted 86 people out of 300 million are cast.

>> that's 86 too many.

>> that's.00002% of the election. now we can disenfranchise people.

>> if we agree noncitizens should not be allowed to vote, how do we enforce that?

>> there's no evidence noncitizens are voting.

>> you just named 87 examples. you just named 87 examples.

>> the right has created a phantom menace of voter fraud .

>> you don't want a solution to this problem.

>> there's no problem.

>> there's not a problem.

>> 87 times by your estimation is 87 too many.

>> 300 million people.

>> what would you do about those 87 times.

>> you're going to disenfranchise 1.4 people in texas alone.

>> krystal, you don't like voter i.d. fine. give me a solution for those 87 times. you don't have one.

>> but why are we caring about 87 people?

>> i've got nothing else.

>> you have nothing else. you have nothing else. you have nothing.

>> i will answer your question. how about this. how about we consider providing i.d.s to people? how about we consider.

>> texas is doing that.

>> instead of allowing the concealed carry i.d. and not the student i.d., then why not student i.d.s count?

>> voter fraud is a total red herring . 25% of black americans lack photo i.d. that would get them to t fix the 87 examples because it's not enough.

>> only 8% of white americans lack that. we're talking about disenfranchising millions of people over 87? that doesn't make any sense.

>> ari, i want to bring you back into this. everybody's here kind of ganging up on s.e. if we look at a poll on this, her position on this is winning. i think the argument to people that you know, yeah, you need some kind of i.d. to show up and vote to prevent fraud is a powerful argument, don't you?

>> people need to understand the consequences and the number of registered voter who's don't have i.d. 21 million people don't have i.d. in this country in crucial swing states like pennsylvania. 750,000 registered voters don't have that i.d. number two, people need to understand what it takes to get the i.d. it's not as simple as showing up. it costs pone. in texas , only 81 out of 254 counties in texas even have a dmv. even if you wanted to get the i.d., it's just very difficult to get it in certain places. we're creating all these new hurdles to voting for no reason other than that republicans want to make it harder for traditionally democratic constituents to be able to cast a ballot. this all happened after the election of barack obama . it the wasn't a coincidence. republicans saw how obama won in 2008 by turning out a coalition dst young voters.

>> hispanic and african-american voters and decided we're going to make it tougher for those voters to vote in 2012 . it's not about the voter fraud . it's about the gop shaping electorate in their own favor.

>> caller: there is no coincidence this is happening now after the election of barack obama .

>> still no solution to the 87 examples of voter fraud .

>> how about the -- what's your solution of five million people being disenfranchised in the next election.

>> if you don't like voter i.d., that's okay with me. i'd love another option to deal with the by your estimation 87 examples of voter fraud . people fight for that right overseas. it's a privilege. if you're going to take it for granted, then i don't think you should be part of that privilege.

>> the 86 people weren't even people who were intentionally committing fraud. it was mostly honest mistakes. out of 300 million.

>> still got to deal with it.

>> 300 million votes cast, you have turned the most minuscule problem into such a big issue. it will absolutely has no credibility the argument that you're making about voter fraud .

>> i would love other options.

>> i would love universal suffrage and not the attempt to try to disenfranchise millions of people.

>>