Congressional Democrats are warning that stricter voter identification laws sweeping through state legislatures could suppress voters in the 2012 elections. At least 34 states have introduced legislation, with varying degrees of restrictiveness, that would require voters to display identification at the polls before they are given a ballot. Some of these laws require voters to produce photo identification; some do not.
The battleground state of Wisconsin has a new law requiring photo IDs, while proposals at various legislative stages in the perennial presidential swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are also giving Democrats heartburn. The more restrictive voting ID measure in Ohio is pending Senate floor consideration. A bill to introduce ID rules for the first time in Pennsylvania has passed the state House and is currently in a state Senate committee. Democratic National Committee spokesman Alec Gerlach said Ohio is “one of the states where this has been a big concern.”
A report by the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy and law institute based at the New York University School of Law, found that more voter ID bills have been introduced this year than in any other year in history.
New voter ID laws have been enacted in Kansas and Rhode Island, and lawmakers in Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have moved to tighten laws previously in place, according to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“When you have millions potentially unable to vote, it will undoubtedly have political consequences,” said Wendy Weiser, a co-author of the Brennan Center report.
Full Article: Democrats Fret About Stricter Voter ID Laws : Roll Call Politics.