New voting laws requiring identification and eliminating absentee ballots disenfranchise young and low-income voters in various states. Students who move out-of-state to attend college normally shrug a slew of stresses on their shoulders. From a potentially higher tuition to possible travel expenses, most college students think they have enough to worry about. A new wave of laws, however, could be adding to that list. Throughout the country, voting laws are being pursued that will affect a wide range of voting issues including voter IDs, proof of citizenship, strict registration, reduction in absentee balloting and disenfranchisement of voters with a felony conviction.
In October 2011, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law released a report outlining the potential effects of these voting law changes. Based on the laws being affected, the report estimates that more than 5 million voters could be affected by the new laws.
Not all of these laws have been hailed as improvements in the voting process. “Any efforts to restrict people’s right to elect their public officials is un-American as can possibly be,” Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kenney said. “These laws or restrictions are directed at young people, poor people, less educated people and it is a bald faced way of disenfranchising folks.”
Full Article: ID bills target college-aged voters : The Temple News.