Old age and associated complications such as loss of mobility will affect almost all of us. But they shouldn’t block our most basic democratic right – the right to vote — said Lindi Kirkbride of AARP Wyoming. Kirkbride is especially concerned for senior citizens, but all Wyomingites in general, if Senate File 134 become law and residents are forced to show picture identification at polling places. “The scenario is it’s a terribly nasty day,” Kirkbride said. “Someone in a walker wants to go vote. The poll checkers are there and they’re trying to determine, ‘Oh, yours is expired. You can’t vote because your license is expired, sorry.’ It’s going to cause these big lines.” The bill won’t become law this year. But next year could be different.
In legislative parlance the bill has been “laid back,” or held for the interim. Over the next year, one of the bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, county clerks and others will work to improve it.
“We all agree we want everybody to be legal to vote and vote in the right place,” Driskill said. “That’s really what we’re trying to do with the intent with that.”
SF134 would require IDs at polling places in addition to current state law that requires identification when people
register to vote.
Driskill’s concern is that registered voters show up and vote at the wrong precincts – either unintentionally, as his parents did for decades, or intentionally, when voters try to cast ballots for candidates not in their home precincts.
Add to that temporary residents such as oil and natural gas workers who vote in Wyoming even if it’s not their official residence.
Full Article: Wyoming Senate committee tables voter ID bill for more work.