Policies vary greatly from state to state. In Ohio, acceptable forms of identification are limited to driver’s licenses or passports issued by the state or federal governments, while North Carolina accepts student ID cards, as well as military, public assistance and tribal cards. Some states allow voters to request a free ID or to sign an ID if they don’t have one.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, tougher demands have been in the works for years. The North Carolina law, passed in 2018, was blocked by a lawsuit three years later by the state Supreme Court. Administration of the law “was motivated, at least in part, by an unconstitutional intent to target African-American voters..”
The court overturned that decision, allowing the law to take effect after two GOP judges are elected in 2023. There is a federal lawsuit against it He is set to go on trial this springThe Associated Press reported on this.
Arkansas’ new law no longer allows voters to sign a form of identification in lieu of an ID — which many states still offer. Instead, voters are now required to return to the polling station with a photo ID within the specified time frame for provisional ballots to be counted.
Requiring some form of identification from voters dates back to the 1950s, but two Supreme Court decisions in the past two decades have paved the way for states to impose ID requirements. In 2008, a court ruled that an Indiana law requiring voters to provide a photo ID was unconstitutional.
By another decision in 2013, part of it was abolished Voting Rights Act of 1965 It required states with a history of voter discrimination to get federal approval to make changes that affect voting.
After removing that requirement, at least 25 voter ID laws have been implemented — some have been destroyed in court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and public policy group that monitors election laws.
Voter ID requirements are not inherently unpopular and are new requirements A Pew Research Center survey found more than 8 in 10 Americans Requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote is supported.
Many of the recent ID laws have gained momentum after former President Donald Trump and his allies made repeated, baseless claims that voter fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump has electoral problems consistently lost in courtand State officials across the country have denied allegations of fraud.
Research shows the rate of voter fraud is extremely low, a fact acknowledged by Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Ohio, who sponsored the law requiring state-issued photo IDs. Still, Hall believes the law gives voters “comfort” that the election is safe.
“I think voter ID was just ‘extremely rare’ and made it almost impossible in Ohio,” Hall said.
Missouri Rep. John Simmons, a Republican who sponsored legislation requiring state-issued photo ID, said voter fraud cases are a low priority for prosecutors and the requirement is a “common sense” way to prevent such cases.
“Just because I don’t go into my house doesn’t mean I don’t lock my doors at night,” Simmons said. “We have to go back to make sure we have confidence in the government.”
Voting rights advocates say strict ID laws have directly affected voter turnout and disproportionately discourage low-income people and people of color from voting.
Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel, said: “Voter ID policies are responding to a problem that doesn’t exist, and so we should be skeptical of why states are implementing these policies if they don’t have a justification.” at the Brennan Center.
Sweren-Becker added that the voting barriers created by ID laws are “part of an overall effort to make it harder for Americans to vote.” States like North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, and Missouri allow outside voting, early voting, signature matching, and more. implemented ID card requirements along with other election changes related to
About 29 million Americans did not have a current driver’s license, and 7.6 million did not have an expired government-issued photo ID. in 2020, according to a University of Maryland report using a representative sample from the American National Election Studies survey. Survey respondents who identified as black or Hispanic were twice as likely as other groups to not have a photo ID, and among these demographic groups, 18- to 29-year-olds were the least likely to have a driver’s license or any photo ID. groups.
“The unfortunate reality is that lawmakers are tailoring these laws to exclude certain voters,” said Molly McGrath, a voting rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. “And it works.”
Identification requirements can create inequalities in other ways. Texas’ 2021 ballot law required mail-in voters to list their identification numbers, or partial Social Security numbers, both on their mail-in ballot application and on the ballot envelope itself, which matches the voter registration information. In the 2022 state primary, the Brennan Center found that Latino, Asian and Black voters an application or postal ballot is at least 30% more likely to be rejected due to new demand compared to white voters. Some voters there was no matching information and others left it blank They either didn’t see it or thought it was optional, NPR reports.
Transgender people can also be regarding voter ID laws. The Williams Institute at UCLA Law, a think tank, estimated that there are 260,000 transgender people living in states with voter ID laws. they did not have a form of ID that accurately reflected their name or gender identity for the 2020 general elections. In a 2015 US Transgender Survey, 25% of respondents reported being verbally harassed by survey staff after showing an ID that did not match their current name or gender identity.
Updating ID gender markers can be a difficult process for transgender people. Eight states require proof of gender-affirming surgery and two states do not allow ID changes. All of these states also have voter ID requirements.
A According to Pew Research, 1 in 5 voters are registered He didn’t know they would be asked to show ID to vote in the 2016 election.
“Most people think about what they need to do to vote, deadlines and everything else months or weeks before the election,” said McGrath, who expects the new requirements to surprise voters during the primaries. “Voters are busy, they have lives.”
More voting laws are coming. Representative Hall, R-Ohio, who is running for re-election, said his colleagues hope to pass more election integrity legislation in the near future.
Opponents of ID requirements, such as Ohio, say requiring stricter election laws will continue to deter voters.
“We’re seeing a kind of cut-and-dried approach to voting rights,” Sweren-Becker said.