A controversial bill that would require Iowans to show voter identification at the polls cleared an Iowa Senate subcommittee Wednesday, though the measure is being widely criticized for potentially preventing particular groups from voting. Ambassadors with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that works to promote young voices in democracy, wrote a letter this week voicing opposition to the legislation, Senate Bill 1163, saying it would “erect significant barriers to out-of-state college students’ eligibility to vote in Iowa.”
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate launched an initiative in September to increase voter turnout among college students, dubbed the Iowa College Voter Engagement Drive, encouraging more than 300,000 college students in Iowa to vote.
But the proposed bill would affect approximately 32,200 out-of-state students attending four-year public universities and 25,500 out-of-state students attending private, nonprofit colleges and universities.
Opponents said out-of-state students would run into barriers when registering to vote because many of them use a lease agreement, which is a formal document between the institution and the student, and the county auditor accepts the documentation as proof that a student is a valid Iowa resident for voter-registration purposes.
Full Article: Controversial voter ID bill would hurt out-of-state students.