North Dakota lawmakers are proposing changes to the state’s voter identification law after some had problems casting a ballot in November. The proposals come after the Legislature changed North Dakota’s voter identification law two years ago to do away with the voter affidavit process that allowed voters to cast a ballot without proper ID. A bill introduced last week by Rep. Corey Mock, D-Grand Forks, would reverse that change and bring back affidavits. “Let’s go back to the 2013 law and start from there,” Mock said. But Rep. Randy Boehning, R-Fargo, said voter affidavits leave the state’s election system vulnerable to fraud. He’s sponsoring a bill that would allow citizens who don’t have an updated ID to use a change of address form, bill or bank statement that shows they’ve lived in that location for 30 days to vote. It would also clarify acceptable forms of ID, which wouldn’t include student identification certificates. Neither proposal, House Bill 1333 or House Bill 1302, has been scheduled for a hearing.
Republican Secretary of State Al Jaeger declined to comment until his office had a chance to review the proposals. He said there have been at least 25 bills introduced that “relate to some aspect of the election process,” including voter identification, administration and campaign finance. Boehning’s bill was originally drafted by the Secretary of State’s office and slightly modified based on legislative feedback, Jaeger said.
Mock, whose district includes the UND area, said his proposal comes in response to problems he heard about during Election Day. He said some college students were able to update their address on their student identification certificate on Election Day, as were non-students who updated their driver’s license during business hours.
“After 5 p.m., the DMV was closed,” Mock said, so some non-students who were unable to update their addresses were turned away. Some students also reported trouble at the polls.
Full Article: Lawmakers float voter ID proposals | Grand Forks Herald.