Tag Archives: voter id

North Carolina lawmakers continue to consider legislation that would require some type of voter ID when citizens go to the polls. This week the House Elections Committee will hold more panel discussions on the issue. If an ID requirement were put in place, citizens such as Rocky Reese would be unable to vote. Homeless for 15 years, he is currently unable to secure the proper documents to get an ID. “Being out on the streets, you’re not thinking about your ID,” Reese declared. “You’re thinking about survival. You’re thinking about where am I going to eat next. If you have never been there, you don’t know. You don’t feel accepted.” Reese voted in last November’s election.

Tennessee: House drops college IDs at the polls | The Tennessean

Lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives dropped a proposal to let college students use their campus identification cards at the polls. The House Local Government Committee amended a bill Tuesday to strip out language that would have let students at public colleges and universities in Tennessee show their IDs to vote. The decision put the House at odds with the Senate, which agreed to accept college IDs at the polls just last week. State Rep. Susan Lynn, the measure’s sponsor, said she agreed to the amendment after consulting with committee members and the co-sponsor, state Sen. Bill Ketron.

Arkansas: Voter ID Bill Approved By State Senate, Headed To Mike Beebe’s Desk | Reuters

The Arkansas state Senate approved a measure on Tuesday to require voters to show photo identification before they can cast a ballot, sending it to Democratic Governor Mike Beebe who has not said whether he would sign it into law. The measure passed on a 22-12 vote along party lines in the state’s Republican-controlled Senate. It had already passed the Republican-led House on a 51-44 vote, with support from one Democrat. If it does become law, Arkansas would join the nearly three dozen states that have similar laws on the books, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Legal challenges to those laws are pending in several states where the measures have passed, and challenges to the Arkansas law would be expected to follow.

Arkansas: Legislature approves voter ID requirement | The Cabin

Arkansas lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would require voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, sending the Republican-backed measure to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s desk. After rejecting a committee recommendation that the measure needed a two-thirds majority, 24 votes, the Senate voted 22-12 to approve the bill. The Republican-led chamber had approved an earlier version of the bill, but had to sign off an amendment attached by GOP-controlled House to exempt active duty military personnel who file absentee ballots. Beebe has questioned the need for such a law since poll workers are already required to ask for ID, but stopped short of saying whether he’ll veto the bill. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate’s Rules, Resolutions and Memorials Committee voted 8-6 to recommend that the voter ID bill require a two-thirds majority to pass the Senate. The panel made the recommendation based on arguments that the legislation amends constitutional requirements on voter registration.

Arkansas: Senate delays vote on voter ID requirement | The Baxter Bulletin

March 19, 2013

Renewed questions about the way legislation was approved that would require Arkansas voters to show photo identification at the polls delayed the measure from heading toward a final vote in the state Senate Monday. The Senate delayed a vote on the legislation after a lawmaker questioned whether it required a higher vote threshold in both chambers of the Legislature. Similar concerns had been rejected in the House last week, but a Senate panel planned to take up the matter today.

National: Justice Department’s inspector general report: Is the Voting Rights section too politically biased and polarized to enforce the Voting Rights Act? | Slate Magazine

March 19, 2013

A long-awaited report from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General issued last week sheds considerable light on the battles within the department’s voting section during the Bush and Obama administrations. The picture is not pretty. It is a tale of dysfunction and party polarization that could unfairly derail the nomination of the next secretary of labor and could even provide ammunition to Justice Antonin Scalia’s incendiary charge, made during the Supreme Court’s hearing on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act last month, that the civil rights law is a kind of “racial entitlement.” The sordid business raises serious questions about whether the whole model for the federal enforcement of voting rights should be reworked. The record of political bias in the Justice Department’s voting section during President George W. Bush’s administration is well-known. (The department’s voting section is charged with enforcing the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws.) We know from earlier reports that election officials, including Monica Goodling, went on a hiring binge to hire conservative attorneys to work in the section and, in the words of Bush appointee Bradley Schlozman, to “gerrymander all those crazy libs right out of the section.”

Tennessee: Bill OKing use of college IDs for voting advances | Knoxville News Sentinel

March 19, 2013

The state Senate approved Thursday a bill that will make college student identification cards valid for voting despite Sen. Stacey Campfield’s contention that lawmakers were “gutting” protections against voter fraud. The bill by Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron was approved on a 21-8 vote and now goes to the House, where it faces a committee vote. Besides legalizing college student IDs for voting, the bill also prohibits use of library cards issued by the city of Memphis. The state Court of Appeals has ruled the Memphis cards are valid for voting and the state Supreme Court is considering an appeal of that decision, though it issued a temporary order last fall allowing the cards to be used in the November 2012, election. The eight no votes on the bill, SB125, included Campfield, R-Knoxville, and four other Republicans who objected to the college ID provision and three Democrats who objected to the Memphis library card prohibition. Ketron said the bill includes both provisions to imitate, as closely as practical, the voter ID law of Indiana, which has been upheld as valid in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

National: Arizona Voter ID Law to be Heard This Week by Supreme Court | Fox News

The Supreme Court will struggle this week with the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by demanding all state residents show documents proving their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in national elections. The high court will hear arguments Monday over the legality of Arizona’s voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal “Motor Voter” voter registration law that doesn’t require such documentation. This case focuses on voter registration in Arizona, which has tangled frequently with the federal government over immigration issues involving the Mexican border. But it has broader implications because four other states — Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee — have similar requirements, and 12 other states are contemplating similar legislation, officials say. The Obama administration is supporting challengers to the law.

National: Young Hispanics Stymied at Ballot Box | HispanicBusiness.com

Hispanics and African-Americans under age 30 were disproportionately hampered in their efforts to vote in the November election even in states without voter ID laws, a new study indicates. The study, “Black and Latino Youth Disproportionately Affected by Voter Identification Laws in the 2012 Election,” shows that voter ID laws are applied differently across racial and ethnic groups, said professor Cathy Cohen of the University of Chicago and assistant professor Jon C. Rogowski at Washington University. Among Hispanic youths, 8.1 percent couldn’t vote because they didn’t have the necessary identification. The numbers for blacks were even higher at 17.3 percent, but just 4.7 percent for whites. “Our study shows that without a doubt youth of color are discriminated against at the voting booth,” Rogowski said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter whether it results from conscious or unconscious bias, the result is that people of color are being disenfranchised and our nation has an obligation to put an end to it.”

Nevada: Proposal to use photos to allow Nevada voting gets mixed reaction | Reno Gazette-Journal

Secretary of State Ross Miller’s plan to digitize Nevada polling records and add voter photos to the database was met with mixed reaction Thursday from county registrars who applauded the modernization effort but were concerned it would still allow people to cast a ballot if photos and signatures didn’t match. Miller, in presenting SB63 to the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, said the bill was “an opportunity for state, not the voter, to ensure that every eligible voter is able to exercise their right.” He added no voter be required to “produce a piece of plastic” before casting a ballot. No action was taken by the committee. Passage appeared unlikely given the cool reception it received from Democrats and Republicans’ preference for voter identification cards.

North Carolina: Tillis: Fraud ‘not the primary reason’ for voter ID push | WRAL.com

State House Speaker Thom Tillis signaled what could be a change in messaging on voter ID Saturday – and dropped some hints about the details of upcoming legislation – during an appearance on MSNBC. The left-leaning news channel might not seem like an intuitive choice for an appearance by Tillis, a Republican, but MSNBC has spent much of the day covering the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. Tillis was invited to appear to address his party’s push for a photo voter ID law in North Carolina.

National: Study finds voter ID laws hurt young, minorities | Politico.com

As a handful of state legislatures around the country consider enacting stricter voter ID laws, a new study finds that young people – and especially young minorities – are disproportionately affected by those laws when they go into effect. According to the study, previewed before its release to POLITICO, significantly more minority youths age 18-29 were asked to show identification than white youth: 72.9 percent of black youth were asked for ID, compared with 60.8 percent of Latino youth and 50.8 percent of white youth. Even in states where there are no voter ID laws on the books, 65.5 percent of black youth were asked to show ID at the polls, compared with 55.3 percent of Latino youth and 42.8 percent of white youth. And for many young minority youths, even the concept of a required ID was a primary reason they didn’t go to the polls last year: 17.3 percent of black youth and 8.1 percent of Latino youth said their lack of adequate ID kept them from voting, compared with just 4.7 percent of white youth.

National: Voter ID case heads to Supreme Court | Washington Times

An Arizona law designed to stop illegal immigrants from voting hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court will take up a landmark case this month on whether the state can demand would-be voters to prove they are citizens before casting ballots in federal elections. The dispute centers on its Proposition 200 referendum passed by voters in 2004 that requires residents to show “satisfactory evidence” of citizenship — such as naturalization papers, a birth certificate, passport or Indian tribal identification — before registering to vote. A standard Arizona driver’s license also is accepted because the state requires proof of citizenship to obtain one. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — responding to a legal challenge by a group of Arizona residents, Indian tribes and civil-rights groups — ruled the citizenship requirement conflicted with the 1993 federal lawknown as the “Motor Voter Law,” drafted in part to make it easier for people to register to vote, including requiring states to offer registration at driver’s license offices. Arizona appealed and the Supreme Court agreed to take the case, with oral arguments set for Monday.

National: Justice Department’s voting rights section hurt by unprofessional behavior, report says | The Washington Post

A report released Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general found the department’s voting rights section mired in deep ideological polarization and distrust, in some cases harming its ability to function over the past two administrations. The 258-page review by Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz found “numerous and troubling examples of harassment and marginalization of employees and managers.” The unprofessional behavior included racist and other inappropriate e-mails, Internet postings, blogs, and personal attacks by voting rights lawyers and staffers. The report found no evidence that enforcement decisions were made in the George W. Bush administration or the Obama administration based on race or partisan considerations. Among its responsibilities, the voting section reviews redistricting cases that can change the composition of congressional districts and voter ID laws that affect who is eligible to cast a ballot.

Alaska: Voter ID measure clears House committee over objections | Anchorage Daily News

A controversial bill that critics say will make it harder for Alaskans to vote by imposing new identification requirements cleared its first committee Thursday despite objections from the AARP, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks and the American Civil Liberties Union. One of the sponsors, Anchorage Republican Rep. Bob Lynn, said House Bill 3 won’t stop a single person from voting and that some of the critics have misconstrued what he aims to do. “I want to emphasize that the only purpose of HB 3 is simply to help ensure that the person who shows up at the polling place is actually the person who they say they are. And I think that’s basically a pretty good idea,” said Lynn, who chairs the State Affairs Committee that passed the bill out with lukewarm support.

Alaska: Does Alaska have a voter fraud problem? – Despite controversy, voter ID bill takes next step in Alaska Legislature | Alaska Dispatch

A voter ID bill that drew sharp criticism from U.S. Sen. Mark Begich on his recent visit to the Alaska Legislature is moving forward, with its sponsor denying the senator’s claims about the bill. Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, said his House Bill 3 was the victim of “misinformation” spread by Begich, D-Alaska. “Nothing whatsoever in House Bill 3 prevents anyone from voting if they are registered and motivated to vote,” he said Thursday, while chairing the House State Affairs Committee hearing his bill. Those who don’t have photo ID can present other forms of identification or cast questioned ballots, he said. Stricter voter ID requirements was the focus of Begich’s remarks – and his criticisms were reinforced at a hearing Thursday by Jeffrey Mittman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and Joy Huntington of the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Nebraska: Photo ID to Vote Bill Brings Threat of Lawsuit | Ainsworth News

Nebraskans want some kind of voter ID law, but a senator’s second attempt to bring such a bill misses the mark, according to Secretary of State John Gale. Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, read Gale’s statement during Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Legislative Bill 381, Thursday, March 7. The bill, introduced by Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont, would require Nebraskans to show a photo ID when voting. Janssen, a candidate in the 2014 governor’s race, introduced a similar bill last year, which failed. Former senator Brenda Council of Omaha said LB381 might be unconstitutional. Amy Miller, ACLU Nebraska legal director, and Adam Morfeld, the Nebraskans for Civic Reform executive director, agreed. Morfeld said his group of 27 Nebraska organizations would sue the state if the bill passes.

National: How voter ID kept minority youths from the polls in 2012 | MSNBC

Voter ID laws had a disproportionate impact on minority youth voters last November, even in states without the restrictive laws.
“The very existence of identification laws makes young people of color more likely than white youth to be asked to prove their identity,” said Dr. Cathy Cohen, a researcher at the University of Chicago. Her findings showed that young minority voters (under 30-years-old) were more likely to be asked for identification, even in states without ID requirements. Nearly two-thirds of black youth report they were asked for ID in states without voter ID laws, and a little more than half of young Latino voters reported being asked. Meanwhile only 42.8% of white youth said that they were asked for ID. In voter ID states, the application of the law was more even, but white youth voters were asked for identification less often than African American youths (84.3% of the time for whites compared to 94.3% for African- Americans).

Arkansas: Voter ID measure advances in Arkansas State House | Reuters

Arkansas lawmakers, following the lead of other legislators across the country, approved a measure on Wednesday to require voters to show photo identification before they can cast a ballot. The measure passed on a 51-44 vote in the Republican-controlled state House with support from one Democrat. It now returns to the Senate, which approved a similar measure, for a vote on an amendment. Democratic Governor Mike Beebe has not said whether he would sign the bill into law and have Arkansas join the nearly three dozen states that have similar laws on the books, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Legal challenges to those laws are pending in several states where the measures have passed.

Iowa: Voter photo ID bill offers compromise | SouthwestIowaNews.com

A proposal to require Iowa voters to show a photo ID at the polls has become a hot-button issue. Supporters argue it’s necessary to eliminate voting fraud. Opponents say it would hurt certain groups, like the elderly, who may no longer have a photo ID such as a driver’s license. A bill that just passed out of a House committee could be a compromise of sorts. The bill, HF 485, would allow residents in health care facilities and hospitals who can’t provide a photo ID to sign an affidavit to that effect and have a witness verifying the voter’s identity. “You can sign an affidavit indicating that you don’t have proof of ID and someone who knows you can sign it also,” said Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa, R-Council Bluffs. “It requires a witness.” The bill was recently approved by the House State Government Committee on a party-line vote and is now eligible for floor debate.

North Carolina: A voter ID battle in North Carolina | Washington Post

Elections have consequences. In North Carolina, which elected Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and a GOP super-majority in both the state House and Senate in 2012, legislation to institute photo identification as a prerequisite for voting is again on the table. In 2011, a bill requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification made it to the desk of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, who vetoed it, saying it would “unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters.” Back then, the legislature did not have the numbers to override her veto. That’s changed. As public hearings on the bill began Tuesday in Raleigh, an eventual bill seems inevitable. There are, however, complications that have state Republicans treading carefully as they look to change voting rules with an eye on the state’s future — and their own. North Carolina has trended purple in recent elections. President Obama narrowly won in 2008 and lost by just two percentage points in 2012. In U.S. House races, though Republicans picked up seats, largely through redistricting, Democratic candidates actually won 51 percent of the vote.

North Carolina: Voter ID proposal brings out opponents and advocates | NewsObserver.com

The politically volatile issue of whether North Carolina should require voters to have photo identification brought an overflow crowd and emotional testimony to the legislature Tuesday. At a public hearing conducted by the House Elections Committee, nearly 100 people argued over whether such a step would ensure election integrity or was an effort to disenfranchise voters. The majority of speakers criticized the proposal, arguing there was little voter fraud in the state and that requiring photos would be an obstacle to voting for those without driver’s licenses. They also argued it would cost the state money. “As many as 1 in 10 voters may not have a valid, state-issued photo ID,” said Sarah Preston, policy director for the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “That is 600,000 North Carolinians who could be prevented from voting under a strict photo ID law.”

North Carolina: Supporters, opponents of voter ID law cite data to back up their position | NewsObserver

Lawmakers heard from election experts Wednesday who said there was little evidence of voter fraud in North Carolina, but that voter ID laws in other states had not led to voter suppression as critics have predicted. Of the 21 million votes cast in North Carolina since 2000, the State Board of Elections only turned over one case of voter impersonation for prosecution – the sort of fraud that requiring a photo ID is designed to stop. “Voter fraud is rare and cases of voter impersonation even more uncommon,” Keesha Gaskins, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York think tank that has opposed voter ID laws, told a House committee considering legislation to require a photo voter ID. “There is no evidence of coordinated or systemic voter fraud anywhere in the country and there is certainly no evidence here in North Carolina,” Gaskins said. “A voter ID law would not improve North Carolina’s elections, but what we do know is that many North Carolina voters lack the kind of identification required by such a law.”

North Carolina: The slow, painful road to voter ID | IndyWeek

Let the perfunctory public hearings begin. On Tuesday, lawmakers in Raleigh listened to more than 100 speakers debate the pros and cons of a law that would require North Carolinians to produce a photo ID on Election Day. Detractors say that requiring an ID to vote will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of low-income, minority and elderly voters. But supporters of the measure say that producing an identification card is commonplace in today’s society and should be required at the polls. Some have even suggested that voter fraud is a widespread problem, but little evidence has directly backed up that claim.

Virginia: Advocacy groups urge McDonnell to veto voter ID bills | Augusta Free Press