Voter ID laws (United States)
Encyclopedia
Voter identification is required to vote in many of the 50 United States and U.S. territories. The first laws requiring identification to vote at the polls were passed in 2003, and as of September 2011, 30 U.S. states require some form of photo or non-photo identification. The identification required to submit a ballot differs by state law, and may differ by de facto
voting procedures.
Because of laws against any form of poll tax
in the United States, voting must be made free to all voters. Several state governments have paid for and distributed free voter IDs to help them comply.
The 2002 federal Help America Vote Act
requires any voter who registered by mail and who has not previously voted in a federal election to show current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. Voters who submitted any of these forms of identification during registration are exempt, as are voters entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
.
(R) attempted to start a pilot program that required voters to show IDs at the polls. His initiative was blocked by Democrats and the NAACP, and was stopped by court order. His administration had spent and mailed $275,000 worth of free voter ID cards to residents in Arlington and Fairfax counties. In the aftermath of the 2000 election
, where George W. Bush narrowly won Florida by 537 votes, the American public and lawmakers became more receptive to measures against voter fraud. In 2002, President Bush signed the Help America Vote Act
into law, which required all first-time voters in federal elections to show photo or non-photo ID upon either registration or arrival at the polling place.
In 2004, Arizona passed a law
requiring voters to bring a state-issued photo ID, U.S. passport, U.S. birth certificate, or naturalization papers to the polling place. Similar proposals were discussed in various other states and were passed in some cases. In several states a person's citizenship status is noted on their photo ID.
Indiana passed a law in 2008 requiring a photo ID be shown by all voters before casting ballots. Civil rights groups in Indiana launched a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board
. The Court ruled that the law was constitional, paving the way for expanded laws in other states.
(R) and Ohio Governor John Kasich
(R) enacted similar laws. Texas Governor Rick Perry
placed a voter ID bill as an "emergency item" in 2011, allowing legislators to rush it through the process. Jurisdiction over Texas election procedure is given to the Department of Justice, which must pre-clear the law for approval. Texas law recognizes a weapon permit but not a college ID, raising criticism that the law is unfavorable to young voters, who trend liberal, while favorable to gunowners, who trend conservative. Rhode Island passed a voter ID law in 2011, the only state with a Democratic-controlled legislature to do so. In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley
(R) enacted a strict law requiring government-issued IDs at the polls, and supplied voters with free IDs and carpools to state DMVs. Wisconsin's Voter ID law provided free IDs to people who did not have them. In practice, state employees at the DMV were instructed to provide the IDs for free only if people specifically asked to have their fee waived. A Wisconsin state employee was fired for telling other employees that the IDs were free by law, and that they should inform people who may need them to vote.
In general, voter ID laws disproportionally impact traditional Democratic voting blocs of the young, the elderly, naturalized citizens, urban, and highly-mobile populations. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank, disputed the methodology of the study of 900 people. The credibility of the survey was contested by another question, where 14% of respondents said they had both a U.S. birth certificate and naturalization papers. In 2010, the voting age population was an estimated 237.3 million, and the citizen voting age population was 217.5 million. Of those, 186.9 million were registered voters. The Heritage Foundation has pointed to U.S. Department of Transportation records showing that there were 205.8 million valid drivers licenses in 2009, meaning there are 19 million more individuals with photo ID than there are registered voters, as evidence that photo ID is not hard to obtain. Similarly, Kris Kobach
, a Republican
supporter of Voter ID laws, points to evidence in Kansas that more than 30,000 registered drivers in Kansas are not registered to vote.
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
voting procedures.
Because of laws against any form of poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
in the United States, voting must be made free to all voters. Several state governments have paid for and distributed free voter IDs to help them comply.
The 2002 federal Help America Vote Act
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...
requires any voter who registered by mail and who has not previously voted in a federal election to show current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. Voters who submitted any of these forms of identification during registration are exempt, as are voters entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act is a United States federal law dealing with elections and voting rights for United States citizens residing overseas. The act requires that all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin...
.
Through 2010
In 1999, Virginia Governor Jim GilmoreJim Gilmore
James Stuart "Jim" Gilmore III is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, former 68th Governor of Virginia, and a member of the Republican Party. A native Virginian, Gilmore studied at the University of Virginia, and then served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence agent...
(R) attempted to start a pilot program that required voters to show IDs at the polls. His initiative was blocked by Democrats and the NAACP, and was stopped by court order. His administration had spent and mailed $275,000 worth of free voter ID cards to residents in Arlington and Fairfax counties. In the aftermath of the 2000 election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, where George W. Bush narrowly won Florida by 537 votes, the American public and lawmakers became more receptive to measures against voter fraud. In 2002, President Bush signed the Help America Vote Act
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...
into law, which required all first-time voters in federal elections to show photo or non-photo ID upon either registration or arrival at the polling place.
In 2004, Arizona passed a law
Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
Proposition 200, an Arizona state initiative passed in November 2004 with 56% of the vote, requires individuals to produce proof of citizenship before they may register to vote or apply for public benefits in Arizona...
requiring voters to bring a state-issued photo ID, U.S. passport, U.S. birth certificate, or naturalization papers to the polling place. Similar proposals were discussed in various other states and were passed in some cases. In several states a person's citizenship status is noted on their photo ID.
Indiana passed a law in 2008 requiring a photo ID be shown by all voters before casting ballots. Civil rights groups in Indiana launched a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board
Crawford v. Marion County Election Board
Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 was a United States Supreme Court case holding that an Indiana law requiring voters to provide photo IDs did not violate the Constitution of the United States.-Background:...
. The Court ruled that the law was constitional, paving the way for expanded laws in other states.
From 2011 onward
In 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott WalkerScott Walker (politician)
Scott Kevin Walker is an American Republican politician who began serving as the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011, after defeating Democratic candidate Tom Barrett, 52 percent to 47 percent in the November 2010 general election...
(R) and Ohio Governor John Kasich
John Kasich
John Richard Kasich is the 69th and current Governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 1983 to 2001...
(R) enacted similar laws. Texas Governor Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
placed a voter ID bill as an "emergency item" in 2011, allowing legislators to rush it through the process. Jurisdiction over Texas election procedure is given to the Department of Justice, which must pre-clear the law for approval. Texas law recognizes a weapon permit but not a college ID, raising criticism that the law is unfavorable to young voters, who trend liberal, while favorable to gunowners, who trend conservative. Rhode Island passed a voter ID law in 2011, the only state with a Democratic-controlled legislature to do so. In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley
Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
(R) enacted a strict law requiring government-issued IDs at the polls, and supplied voters with free IDs and carpools to state DMVs. Wisconsin's Voter ID law provided free IDs to people who did not have them. In practice, state employees at the DMV were instructed to provide the IDs for free only if people specifically asked to have their fee waived. A Wisconsin state employee was fired for telling other employees that the IDs were free by law, and that they should inform people who may need them to vote.
Criticisms
Evidence of voter fraud was never substantiated on a large or organized scale in states that enacted voter ID laws. The Democratic Party fought the Voter ID laws, calling them the GOP war on Voting and a return of Jim Crow disenfranchisement. Civil Rights groups were vocal about the laws, saying they disproportionately hurt blacks and Latinos.Studies
A commonly-cited study by New York University's Brennan Center claimed that 11% of the United States population is of voter age, but lacks government-issued photo IDs. A paper in the Harvard Law and Policy Review, “ID at the Polls: Assessing the Impact of Recent State Voter ID Laws on Voter Turnout”(PDF), compares changes in voter turnout between 2002 and 2006 as related to three voting requirement categories – photo ID needed, non-photo ID needed and no identification needed. Key study findings include: 1). “Non-photo ID laws [are] associated with a 2.2% point decline in turnout, and photo ID laws are correlated with a 1.6% point decline.” In a related analysis, the author found a 1.1% decline in turnout in states with strengthened photo ID laws between 2002 and 2006. 2). In 2002, prior to the widespread adoption of photo ID poll requirements, more than 40% of eligible voters in states with no voting ID requirements and more than 35% of voters in states with minimal ID requirements turned out at the polls. By 2006, the percentage of voting-age citizens who turned out in states with no ID requirement or a non-photo ID requirement increased to 42% and 38%, respectively. States requiring a photo voter ID saw the lowest percentage of voter turnout, approximately 37%. 3). Counties with older populations saw an increase in turnout of 1.5%. However, counties with higher Hispanic and Asian-American populations saw a small negative effect on voter turnout as ID laws were tightened. Greater household income positively correlated with voter turnout. 4). Possible variables impacting overall voter turnout include Election Day registration (associated with increases), the presence of an incumbent (a small increase) or a controversial ballot initiative (a 4.6% point increase in voter turnout). Much of the increase in voter turnout can be attributed to news coverage and state-sponsored public outreach.In general, voter ID laws disproportionally impact traditional Democratic voting blocs of the young, the elderly, naturalized citizens, urban, and highly-mobile populations. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank, disputed the methodology of the study of 900 people. The credibility of the survey was contested by another question, where 14% of respondents said they had both a U.S. birth certificate and naturalization papers. In 2010, the voting age population was an estimated 237.3 million, and the citizen voting age population was 217.5 million. Of those, 186.9 million were registered voters. The Heritage Foundation has pointed to U.S. Department of Transportation records showing that there were 205.8 million valid drivers licenses in 2009, meaning there are 19 million more individuals with photo ID than there are registered voters, as evidence that photo ID is not hard to obtain. Similarly, Kris Kobach
Kris Kobach
Kris W. Kobach is the Secretary of State of Kansas. He is also currently of counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute in Washington, D.C....
, a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
supporter of Voter ID laws, points to evidence in Kansas that more than 30,000 registered drivers in Kansas are not registered to vote.
Timeline
- 2003, Voter ID laws passed in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
- 2005: New voter ID laws were passed in Indiana, New Mexico and Washington; Georgia tightened an existing voter ID law to require photo ID
- 2006: New voter ID law passed in Ohio; Georgia passed a law providing for the issuance of voter ID cards at no cost to registered voters who do not have a driver's license or state-issued ID card; Missouri tightened an existing voter ID law to require photo ID
- 2008: New Mexico relaxed an existing voter ID law, and now allows a voter to satisfy the ID requirement by stating his/her name, address as registered, and year of birth
- 2009: New voter ID law passed in Utah
- 2010: New voter ID law passed in Idaho; Oklahoma voters approved a voter ID proposal placed on the ballot by the Legislature
- 2011: New voter ID laws passed in Kansas, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas tightened existing voter ID laws to require photo ID.
Influential advocates
- Alberto GonzalesAlberto GonzalesAlberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
- Tom HorneTom HorneThomas Charles "Tom" Horne is the current Arizona Attorney General. He served as the Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011.-Early Life and Education:...
- Thor Hearne
- Kris KobachKris KobachKris W. Kobach is the Secretary of State of Kansas. He is also currently of counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute in Washington, D.C....
- Todd RokitaTodd RokitaTheodore Edward "Todd" Rokita is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party. He is formerly the two term Secretary of State of Indiana...
- Bradley SchlozmanBradley SchlozmanBradley J. Schlozman is an American attorney who served as acting head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Schlozman was also later appointed by Gonzales as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri,...