It was just last week that the Supreme Court upheld the Indiana law requiring every person voting in person to present a photo ID every time they vote. Yet the machinery is in place and Indiana is ready to implement the rules.
I just finished being trained with Obama's Voter Protection unit. I was shocked at how far the state has gone to try to suppress certain groups from voting. Frankly, this is likely to hit the younger voters the hardest.
Every voter should be counseled on these requirements before they go to the polling place in order to make sure they have time and the knowledge to ensure that their vote will count.
The particulars below the jump.
Indiana requires that each voter present a document that meets these criteria:
- Display the voter's photo
- Display the voter's name, and the name must conform with the voter registration record
- Display an expiration date and either be current or have expired sometime after the date of the last General Election (November 7, 2006)
- Be issued by the State of Indiana or the U.S. government
So, note a couple of things. First, if the ID is expired but only expired within the last 18 months, it's still good for this election. Second, the "name" need not match identically to the voter registration record; middle initials and names, and nicknames, used or not used, are all acceptable. Third, the ID card may be used only for proof of identity, not to establish proof of residence. The address on the card need not match the registration address.
Finally, and here is where it gets dicey for lots of folks, drivers licenses issued by other states are not valid. You'll need a passport, a military ID with "INDEF" for expiration, or an Indiana Drivers License or Indiana non-drivers ID. I imagine, though I have no statistics to back it up, that this requirement will suddenly and unexpectedly weed out thousands of voters.
As for college students: The website blithely states that students at public universities whose ID cards meet the above requirements may use their student ID cards in order to vote. As a practical matter, only Indiana University puts expiration dates on their student ID cards, so only students at IU will have useable ID cards.
Students at other state universities, such as Purdue, Indiana St and Ball St, may be in trouble. Students at private universities such as Evansville and Notre Dame, well, they better have state ID or passports if they're not already from Indiana and have drivers licenses.
Indiana does not make it easy to get a state ID, either, but it can be done - and once the person jumps through all the hoops, the cards are issued for no charge.
An individual would need to go to any BMV branch, and present the necessary documents:
--2 documents proving citizenship and identity from among: birth certificate, passport, military ID. If only one of these is given, then provide 1 secondary document such as bank statement, insurance card or paycheck stub;
--Proof of Social Security Number (your Social Security Card) or proof of ineligibility; and
--Proof of Indiana residency: current bill, benefit statement, voter registration card.
If you are counseling these students or other individuals, instruct them that they need to find a way to become documented before the election, if at all possible. The most important objective is to have people cast votes that will be counted on Election Day and be reported that night to the media. Once the media calls the race, they won't care if a ton of provisional ballots come in 2 weeks later and change the outcome.
In any event, if a person will be unable to meet the ID requirement on Tuesday, it remains important for everyone to understand that they must still go and vote. Everyone is entitled to vote a Provisional Ballot. Then the provisional voters will have 10 days to obtain the required ID and present it at their county election office in order to have their ballot counted.
Because of how the delegate math works, every vote counts even if the state-wide winner is not in doubt. So make sure everyone knows their rights and knows the importance of following up!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that there is a giant loophole in this whole thing, which is that mail-in absentee voting is exempt from the requirement. It's too late for the primary, but by November this remains a valid option for lots of people.