|
Advocacy Blog
Friday, May 09, 2008
Supreme Court Voter ID Consequences
Indiana's primary was Tuesday May 6 and news reports detailed accounts of nuns and students who were unable to vote.
The effects of the Supreme Court decision were also felt outside of Indiana in various state legislatures. In Kansas, lawmakers approved a voter ID measure similar to Indiana's law. It would not go into effect until 2010, and some expect a veto from Governor Kathleen Sebelius. And in Missouri under a proposed constitutional amendment, voters could decide whether to enact a similar photo ID requirement for voting.
These events illustrate why voter education and poll-worker training should be expanded under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Voting should be made easier rather than harder. A compelling editorial in the New York Times titled, "Voting Rights Are Too Important to Leave to the States," recommends that Congress "set minimum voting rights standards that would apply nationwide and ensure that all eligible Americans could vote."
Congress should also regulate voter challenges at the polls. Parties and candidates often use bad-faith challenges as a dirty trick — to intimidate voters or to slow down voting in certain neighborhoods. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has a good bill that would require challengers who are not election officials to sign an affidavit stating why they believe a specific voter is not eligible.
Posted by Amanda Adams
|