Like so much other legislation this year, a contentious bill that would require voters to provide photo identification passed the state House last week along party lines. Republicans, who control both chambers of the General Assembly, argue that the voter ID bill will reduce fraud. Democrats counter that their real motivation is to restrict voter access to racial minorities and to the poor. Republican state Rep. David Lewis of Dunn, chairman of the state House Elections Committee, shepherded the bill through the House.
Lewis said photo ID at the polls is needed to prevent people from voting under other people’s names. But he said he appreciates the concerns of critics, who say a voter ID law risks blocking legitimate voters from voting.
Despite society’s growing demand that Americans carry government identification papers in their daily lives, some people don’t have a current ID, the critics say.
As examples, they often cite elderly voters, who let their drivers’ licenses expire because they’ve had to stop driving and are too infirm to sit in line at a driver’s license office to get a new state ID. The critics also say poor people and racial minorities are less likely to maintain current citizenship documents.
Full Article: Legislators reactions mixed to voter ID bill.