The same state voter ID laws that have drawn criticisms from Latino groups and immigrants are now taking heat from young voters. Gone are the days when young voters weren’t taken seriously. In 2008, they helped propel Barack Obama into the Oval Office, supporting him by a 2-1 margin. But that higher profile also has landed them in the middle of the debate over some state laws that regulate voter registration and how people identify themselves at the polls. Since the last election, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Wisconsin and Texas and other states have tried to limit or ban the use of student IDs as voter identification. In Florida, lawmakers tried to limit “third party” organizations, including student groups, from registering new voters.
Proponents of voter ID and registration laws say the laws are intended to combat voter fraud. The intent, they say, is to make sure people who are voting are who they say they are and have the right to vote. “In this day and age, nothing could be more rational than requiring a photo ID when voters come to the polls,” Pennsylvania’s senior deputy attorney general, Patrick Cawley, said recently when defending the state’s new law in court.
Others see these efforts as attempts to squelch the aspirations of the budding young voting bloc and other groups, and they’re using that claim to try to get more young people fired up. “You think your vote doesn’t matter? Then why are they trying so hard to take it away from you?” asks Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, a group that works to register young voters. “It does demonstrate the power they have.”
Full Article: Voter ID Laws May Affect Young Voters | Fox News Latino.