The Vermont Senate rejected a last-ditch effort Wednesday to require photo identification at the polls as part of a same-day voter registration bill. State senators amended an original version of the Election Day voter registration bill last week and delayed implementation of S.29 until 2017 — after the next presidential election. Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, last week attempted to delay S.29 until the Secretary of State’s Office could prove in writing that all polling places had Internet connections in order to access the secretary’s online voter checklist. Degree abandoned that amendment Tuesday.
Degree instead offered an amendment that he said would help prevent voter fraud. The new amendment would have required Election Day registrants to provide photo identification plus proof of address — such as a bank statement, utility bill, copy of a paycheck or other government document.
“Fraud may be miniscule, but in a state that sees elections won by 4 and 5 and 6 votes, it’s not a large amount of voter fraud that’s needed to change elections,” Degree said on the floor.
Full Article: Senate passes same-day voter registration, rejects photo ID – VTDigger.