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Advocacy Blog
Monday, April 28, 2008
Supreme Court Upholds Strict Indiana Voter ID Law
The Supreme Court, voting 6-3, ruled against a constitutional challenge to Indiana's voter identification law, requiring voters to show a government-issued photo ID. Opponents of the law argue that having to present such a photo ID will prevent some poor, elderly and minorities from voting. The law will now be in effect for next week's Indiana primary. Bloomberg.com news says that the Court "gave Republicans an election-year victory." This recent decision could also encourage other states to pass similar measures.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the court's lead opinion. "In sum, on the basis of the record that has been made in this litigation, we cannot conclude that the statute imposes 'excessively burdensome requirements' on any class of voters. The opinion also states that it "is fair to infer that partisan considerations may have played a significant role in the decision to enact SEA 483 [the Indiana voter ID law]," but the "state interests identified as justifications for SEA 483 are both neutral and sufficiently strong."
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) responded with these remarks; "Today the Supreme Court failed to protect access to the ballot box for some of the most vulnerable Americans. We have seen an effort by this administration, its political appointees and some partisans to use the specter of purported 'voter fraud' for political advantage. They do so at the expense of vulnerable communities and have excluded millions of elderly, low-income, disabled, and minority voters, even though in-person voter fraud has been proven time and time again to be a myth."
Read the Associated Press story here.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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