From The San Antonio Express-News July 13, 2012 Four days of testimony ended Thursday in a federal trial on the legality of a new Texas voter ID law that was rejected by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act. The case is being watched closely by other states that have recently passed restrictive voter laws.

"It's over. The trial has ended. It's a tough set of issues, it's a tough case," said U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, one of three federal judges hearing the case.  Closing arguments are scheduled today, and a decision by the judges on the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott could come this month.

At issue is a voter ID law that the government and experts have said will disproportionately affect more than 1 million minorities in Texas. Attorneys for the state reject the claim and argue that the law is designed to combat voter fraud. Texas is among 16 states with a history of voter discrimination that must receive Justice Department approval before changing voting laws, per the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Texas was one of eight states to pass restrictive voter ID laws last year.

Stephen Ansolabehere, a Justice Department witness, testified Thursday that the new ID law would disproportionately impact black and Hispanic voters casting ballots at precinct polling places - the basis of the justice department's pre-clearance denial of the law - but admitted that his conclusion could be flawed.

Ansolabehere, a Harvard University professor, said his analysis of voter registration rolls, driver's license and concealed weapons permit records used to draw his conclusions were not foolproof.

The courtroom erupted in laughter several times as lawyers for Texas said his list of those potentially affected by the law was a gross overestimation and showed that former President George W. Bush, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Sen. Phil Gramm were on a list of people that did not have Texas IDs that exactly matched the voting rolls. 

"I think it's likely Sen. Hutchison has a photo ID," Ansolabehere admitted. He later explained that he was not given federal or military data bases to cross check against the Texas voting registration list of 13 million names.

It was unclear if the revelation would impact the case, which centers on whether the Texas legislature intended to disenfranchise minorities when it passed the law, and whether that law will have a discriminatory effect. Also on Thursday, two Texas senators told the court that the voter ID law was racially motivated and rammed through a politically charged legislative session on the eve of Gov. Rick Perry's campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. 

Republicans changed legislative rules to pass the bill and killed Democratic amendments that would have made it easier for minorities to obtain documents needed to vote, said state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, in a videotaped deposition played in the court.

Uresti was unable to testify in person for previously scheduled family business.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, testified that her amendments to make the bill more similar to a voter ID law implemented in Indiana, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, were dismissed outright.

Davis said Texas Democrats were steamrolled. "The voter ID bill, we all believed, was a racially motivated bill," she said.

If a ruling is made this month, Texas would have time to implement the new photo requirements for the November general election if the new regulations meet requirements under the Voting Rights Act.

Witnesses for the state testified this week that convicted felons, noncitizens and those listed as deceased have cast ballots in recent Texas elections, including the May 29 primaries.

Despite the claims, witnesses conceded there have been few indictments or convictions for voter impersonation at polling places.

 Current law allows people with a voter registration card to vote with identification that does not have a photograph, like a student ID and Social Security cards.

People with voter registration cards, but who do not have a valid Texas driver's license or a concealed weapons permit, are disproportionately black and Hispanic, Ansolabehere said.

That conclusion was drawn from a cross check of voting rolls and data bases supplied by the Department of Public Safety and the state, he said.

The one category where whites were more likely to be disenfranchised, Ansolabehere said, were those over age 65.

Texas presented a pollster earlier this week who said the Texas law, like those in Georgia and Indiana, would have little impact on minority voting.

A University of Texas pollster, Daron Shaw, a witness for the state, disputed findings by Ansolabehere that a large number of minorities would lack the documents and access under the new Texas law. 

Asked if the Texas law would deny access to the process for minorities, Shaw said "there is no evidence that that will occur, whatsoever."