Former US House Speaker Jim Wright Denied Voter ID Card

By Daniel Strauss, Talking Points Memo

05 November 13

ormer U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) was denied a voter ID card thanks to Texas's strict voter ID law.

"Nobody was ugly to us, but they insisted that they wouldn't give me an ID," 90-year-old Wright said according to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

Wright said he previously realized earlier in the week that the identification he had to vote, a Texas Christian University faculty ID and a Texas driver's license that expired in 2010, did not meet the criteria of the new voter ID law.

When Wright and his assistant went to the Texas Department of Public Safety office to try and get a new ID card, officials said that he indeed did not have the right identification. Wright told the Texas newspaper he plans to return on Monday with his birth certificate which officials said will be sufficient to get a voter ID card.

"I earnestly hope these unduly stringent requirements on voters won't dramatically reduce the number of people who vote," Wright said.

Wright is not the only political figure to have trouble voting thanks to the new voter ID law. Both State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and her opponent in the Texas governor's race, Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), were made to take additional steps to vote because of the new voter ID law. Abbott has been an outspoken supporter of the new voter ID law.