I can attest to first hand knowledge of the effects of Wendy Davis' Floor Amendment #41 to the Texas' Voter I.D. law. Around 40% of the voters at my voting box, where I served as a judge, would have been prevented from voting without our application of the "similar name" amendment.
See my diary with my report from last night.
Texas' Senate Journal ( page 37 0f 42 page pdf):
Senator Davis offered the following amendment to the bill:
Floor Amendment No. 41
Amend SB 14 in SECTION 7 of the bill, in amended Section 63.001(c), Election Code (page 4, line 6), by adding after the period "If in determining whether a voter's name is on the list of registered voters the election officer determines that the voter's’ name on the documentation is substantially similar but does not match exactly the name on the list, the voter shall be accepted for voting as otherwise required by this section if the voter submits an affidavit stating that the voter is the person on the list of registered voters."
The amendment to SB 14 was read and was adopted by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
Wonkette has a good story on this.
One of the biggest supporters of the law is state Attorney General Greg Abbott, who’s also running for governor. He’s especially proud of the law’s provision that requires the name on people’s photo ID to be exactly the same as the name on the voter rolls, because only a voter-fraudy person would register to vote under a different name than the one on their driver’s license, right? Like for instance this one guy whose name on his license is “Gregory Wayne Abbott,” but whose name on the voting rolls is “Greg Abbott.” That bastard’s not gonna get away with voting fraudulently, that’s for damn sure.
Exceptin’ there was this Democrat state Senator — name of “Wendy Davis” on the voter rolls, but “Wendy Russell Davis” on her driver’s license, the sneak — and she added this amendment to the law that allows someone to vote even if the ID and the voter rolls don’t match perfectly, as long as the two names are “substantially similar.” They can sign an affidavit stating they’re the right person and their vote will still be counted. Pretty selfish of her, but that little loophole will allow her to vote for herself for governor, as long as she signs that affidavit. Same for Greg Abbott. Wonder if he’s thanked her? Probably not, seeing as how she’s too stupid to be governor.
GRAYSON COUNTY, TX -- Everyone who showed up to vote locally was able to cast his or her ballots, according to county election officials.
"The ID that I carried matched my voter registration certificate, but it didn't match the computer," Bucher said.
And it's the "substantially similar" ruling that Deana Patterson, county election clerk, said helped voting run smoothly in Grayson County.
Someone should get the poll books from yesterday's election and send out a mailer which would give every voter who was allowed to vote under the "similar name" provision an opportunity to send a thank you card to Wendy for ensuring that they could vote.