This evening the United States House of Representatives voted that, if you don't carry proof of
citizenship to your polling place, you can't vote, beginning in November 2010.
Your driver's license will not count except in rare cases, because driver's licenses are issued to non-citizens in almost every state.
If you don't have a passport -- that is, I guess, if you're not wealthy enough to travel to foreign countries -- you'll have to get an Election ID from your state.
But by federal law, your Election ID won't be usable for anything but voting.
This is all in H.R. 4844, which passed the full United States House of Representatives tonight, by a partisan vote of 228-196.
[Update: Updated (how do you get that nifty Update: timestamp?) to strike all references to "birth certificates," which upon review do not qualify as "a photo ID proving citizenship" because... duh... they don't have photos. Is there anything other than a passport that qualifies?]
Here are quotes from the text of the bill just passed:
Union Calendar No. 397
109TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 4844
[Report No. 109-666]
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to
require any individual who desires to register or
re-register to vote in an election for Federal office to
provide the appropriate State election official with proof
that the individual is a citizen of the United States to
prevent fraud in Federal elections, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 2, 2006
Mr. HYDE introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on House Administration
SEPTEMBER 18, 2006
Additional sponsors: Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. MILLER of
Florida, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. WILSON of South
Carolina, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. SESSIONS, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE
of Florida, Mr. EHLERS, and Mr. SOUDER
SEPTEMBER 19, 2006
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be
printed.
A BILL
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to
require any individual who desires to register or reregister
to vote in an election for Federal office to provide the
appropriate State election official with proof
that the individual is a citizen of the United States
to prevent fraud in Federal elections, and for other
purposes.
18 ``(A) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE IDENTIFICATION.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in subparagraph
(B), the appropriate State or local election official may
not provide a ballot for an election for
Federal office to an individual who
1 desires to
2 vote in person unless the individual presents to
3 the official--
4 ``(i) a government-issued, current, and
5 valid photo identification; or
6 ``(ii) in the case of the regularly sched
7 uled general election for Federal office held
8 in November 2010 and each subsequent elec
9 tion for Federal office, a government-issued,
10 current, and valid photo identification for
11 which the individual was required to pro
12 vide proof of United States citizenship as a
13 condition for the issuance of the identifica
14 tion.
15 ``(B) AVAILABILITY OF PROVISIONAL BAL16
LOT.--If an individual does not present the iden17
tification required under subparagraph (A), the
18 individual shall be permitted to cast a provi19
sional ballot with respect to the election under
20 section 302(a), except that the appropriate State
21 or local election official may not make a deter22
mination under section 302(a)(4) that the indi23
vidual is eligible under State law to vote in the
24 election unless the individual presents the identi25
fication required under subparagraph (A) to the
official not later than 48 hours after 1 casting the
2 provisional ballot.
10 ``(3) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR IDENTIFICA11
TIONS.--For purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2)--
12 ``(A) an identification is `government13
issued' if it is issued by the Federal Government
14 or by the government of a State; and
15 ``(B) an identification is one for which an
16 individual was required to provide proof of
17 United States citizenship as a condition for
18 issuance if the identification displays an official
19 marking or other indication that the individual
20 is a United States citizen.''.
7 ``(4) MAKING PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS AVAIL8
ABLE.--
9 ``(A) IN GENERAL.--During fiscal year
10 2008 and each succeeding fiscal year, each State
11 shall establish a program to provide photo iden12
tifications which may be used to meet the re13
quirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) by indi14
viduals who desire to vote in elections held in the
15 State but who do not otherwise possess a govern16
ment-issued photo identification.
5 ``(C) IDENTIFICATIONS NOT TO BE USED
6 FOR OTHER PURPOSES.--Any photo identifica7
tion provided under the program established
8 under subparagraph (A) may not serve as a gov9
ernment-issued photo identification for purposes
10 of any program or function of a State or local
11 government other than the administration of
12 elections.''.
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered
to be printed
This is seriously sad shit. I remember after the 2000 election's myriad disenfranchisements reading the text of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It pretty well specified that no impediment, test, or fee whatsoever be presented to voters.
We should have made that a Constitutional amendment. The law isn't holding.
Democracy -- wasn't it was fun while it lasted?