House panel advances voter photo ID bill after several groups tell them it’s unneeded
Two state civil rights groups —the NAACP and ACLU of Kentucky — told a state House panel Thursday that approval of legislation to require voters to show a government-issued photo ID before voting could keep minorities, the disabled and the poor from the polls.
The Kentucky League of Women Voters, the Kentucky County Clerks Association and Josh Douglas, an election law expert and professor at the University of Kentucky, also voiced concerns about the bill, particularly that it should not take effect until 2021 because it will be difficult to implement.
After about 90 minutes of strong debate on Senate Bill 2, which has been pushed by Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs voted 11-7 along party lines to send its revised version of the measure to the full House.
Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, said in voting against the bill that it is “a clear attempt to block access to the polls for minorities.” Rep. Reginald Meeks, D-Louisville, called it “a documentation in what not to do in state politics.”
Adams, who made the issue a campaign promise last year, said he had no intention for the bill to suppress voters. He also said he prefers that it take effect this year “to get the message out in this election year.”
Some Democrats criticized Adams last month for giving a nod to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election effort in Kentucky this year by saying in a Senate committee hearing that the bill should take effect this year because Kentucky has “a very competitive Senate seat” up for election and “we should be concerned about ballot integrity.”
Adams said he could go along with recommended changes to the bill made by Douglas “if that’s what it takes to pass it.” Some members of the House committee said they will be proposing Douglas’ suggestions as amendments to the bill when it gets to the full House.
Douglas told the committee that photo ID laws “don’t do any good and can do harm.” He said there is no evidence that fraud in the form of voter-impersonation has occurred in Kentucky.
His recommended changes included eliminating a provision that would require a local prosecutor to review personal affirmation forms that individuals without a photo ID would have to fill out in order to cast ballots.
He also suggested delaying implementation of the bill until 2021, when there are no scheduled elections in Kentucky.
Douglas and Corey Shapiro, legal director for ACLU of Kentucky, said legal action may be taken if the changes are not adopted.
Speaking against the bill on behalf of the state NAACP were Raymond Burse, former president of Kentucky State University, and civil rights advocate Raoul Cunningham of Louisville. They said it would disenfranchise many minority voters.
Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe said it will be difficult for county clerks to carry out the bill’s provisions in this year’s elections, noting the cost of providing free IDs to those who could not afford them and coming up with special ballots for those without a photo ID.
Fran Wagner, president of the Kentucky League of Women Voters, said her group opposes it “because it just creates unnecessary burdens.”
The latest version of the bill changed the initial proposal so that it no longer requires a photo ID to have an expiration date (most college IDs, one of the forms of identification accepted, do not have expiration dates); to allow people who don’t have photo identification but have a credit card, debit card or social security card to sign an affidavit at the polls and cast a regular ballot; and to no longer require voters to get a notarized affidavit stating why they don’t have an ID.
The House committee added to the bill Thursday a provision to allow driver’s licenses from other states to be used as a form of photo identification.
Kentucky already requires some form of identification to vote, with a list that includes a driver’s license, a credit card, mail with your address on it or even a poll worker being able to identify who you are.
The sponsor of SB 2, Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, said current law is not strict enough and his measure will increase confidence in Kentucky elections.
