Texas — population 26.45 million — has issued just 340 voter IDs

Texas &amp;mdash; population 26.45 million &amp;mdash; has issued just 340 voter IDs

(Image credit: Texas Department of Public Safety)

last updated 8 January 2015

Texas has 26.45 million citizens, 13.6 million adults registered to vote — and only 340 voters with state-issued voter ID.

After the Supreme Court upheld Texas' deeply controversial voter ID law — which requires voters to present one of seven forms of ID at the polls — the Texas Observer reports only a few hundred Election Identification Certificates (EICs) have been handed out. The Observer puts the number in perspective:

That's less than two thousandths of a percent of Texas' voting age population. That's only a little more than one EIC for each of Texas' 254 counties. And many counties haven't had a single citizen obtain an EIC. Another way to slice the numbers: There are more licensed auctioneers (2,454) in Texas than there are people with EICs — more than seven times as many in fact. In Harris County, with more than 4.3 million people, a poverty rate of 18 percent and 70 percent people of color, there are 186 licensed auctioneers but just 21 EICs. There are more licenses for boxing judges in Lubbock County (4) than there are voters with EICs (3). There are more licensed elevator inspectors in Dallas County (35) than voters with EICs (28). [Texas Observer]

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Mike Barry is the senior editor of audience development and outreach at TheWeek.com. He was previously a contributing editor at The Huffington Post. Prior to that, he was best known for interrupting a college chemistry class.