Page 77 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

Expert testimony by Dr . Bazelon showed that while Anglo registered voters who lack sufficient ID need to pay on average $26 .66 in travel costs to obtain one, similarly situated Latino voters need to pay $48 .10, a significant racial disparity . Dr . Bazelon’s economic analysis established that the average Black registered voter must expend a share of his/her wealth on such costs that is more than four times higher than the share required of the average Anglo registered voter in Texas .24
In sum, because the evidence showed that minority voters must travel longer distances to obtain a photo ID to vote, and because minorities are less likely than Anglos to own a vehicle, the travel costs to obtain a photo ID bear more heavily on minorities and are more difficult to overcome .
IV. Health Disparities
The evidence of health impairment among minorities compared to Anglos was similarly dramatic . Based on survey data from the U .S . Centers for Disease Control, Blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to report being in only “fair” or “poor” health, to lack a personal doctor, to lack health insurance, and to have not visited a doctor in the past year due to the cost . Furthermore, Hispanic and Black Texans, particularly those who are low-income, experience higher levels of health impairment than Anglo Texans . They are also disproportionately likely to have to manage a family member’s disability . Those in poor health or who have to manage a family member’s poor health have greater burdens to bear in everyday life, and these burdens are often a direct result of a long history of discrimination .25
Social, electoral, and historical conditions in Texas that interact with SB 14 further burden the ability of minority citizens without SB 14 ID to obtain that ID . These conditions include, among other things, the fact that: a) voter participation rates among Latinos and Blacks remain behind Anglo rates; b) Texas has a long history of racial discrimination in voting, that has continued to the present day; and c) minorities in Texas suffer from the ongoing effects of discrimination in other areas, which has led to stark socioeconomic differences between the minority and Anglo populations, including poor health and lower incomes .26 These health burdens often restrict low-income minority Texans’ ability to obtain and maintain documents, even ones that relate to government benefits . In Texas, as in many communities, those who must bear the impact of extreme poverty and who suffer from poor health or disabilities face a far greater burden in obtaining and maintaining documents such as birth certificates, which cost money, must be obtained in person, and are necessary to receive S .B . 14-compliant IDs .27
V. Education
Education helps individuals navigate convoluted bureaucracies, such as the administrative maze Texas has forced those seeking S .B . 14-compliant IDs to navigate . Moreover, education provides voters with a sense of confidence in the electoral process .28 The evidence of educational disparities between minorities and Anglos in Texas is dramatic, and again, a continuing effect linked directly
24 Id. ¶ 419.
25 Id. ¶ 375.
26 Id. § XI.
27 Id. ¶ 375.
28 Id. ¶ 474 (citing U.S. Request for Judicial Notice ¶ 10).
Political Participation
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