In elections that begin this week, voters in 10 states will be required to present photo identification before casting ballots — the first major test of voter-ID laws after years of legal challenges arguing that the measures are designed to suppress voting. The first election is Tuesday in Texas, followed by nine other primaries running through early September that will set the ballot for the midterm elections in November.
The debut of the new laws in a few smaller-scale elections in the past year already has exposed some problems, such as mismatched names, confusion over absentee-voting provisions and rules that require voters to travel great distances to obtain proper documentation. In one case, voters had no recourse if their credentials were challenged.
“Unless people are paying attention, and a lot of them aren’t, they don’t even know this law exists,” said Brian Schoenman, secretary of the elections board in Fairfax County, Va., a Washington, D.C., suburb.
Full Article: New voter-ID laws taking effect | The Columbus Dispatch.