Battle brewing over GOP push to require photo IDs

Update: The bill has moved forward in the Virginia House. You can read the latest version here.

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RICHMOND

Before Virginia is a swing state in the fall presidential election, it will be a battleground this winter over voter participation.

Republican lawmakers this year have filed several bills to change voting procedures, measures they say are designed to safeguard the integrity of elections but which Democratic critics argue are veiled attempts to suppress the vote.

Perhaps most controversial among them are proposals to require voters to show certain forms of identification in order to vote on a normal ballot - a change from the current law that has a less rigid identification card requirement. One bill, as proposed by state Sen. Steve Martin, a Chesterfield County Republican, would remove even state-issued voter registration cards from the list of acceptable ID. When asked about that provision, Martin said it's an error he plans to fix.

He said his intent is not to impose onerous burdens on voters, but he thinks it's "absurd" for votes to be counted without voters showing some form of ID.

Under the bills, voters who can't produce valid identification at the polls would be given provisional ballots. Local election officials decide whether to count a ballot after determining a voter's eligibility.

At present, election workers must ask voters to state their names and addresses and present identification. Those who don't have identification but whose names are in the poll book can cast regular ballots after signing statements affirming their identities, under threat of felony charges for false statements.

The push for tougher voter identification rules has gained renewed momentum around the country. Last year, 32 states considered so-called photo ID bills, according to the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that lobbies for more open voting policies.

A report the group released in April described those proposals as part of "a quiet but coordinated effort to reduce the voting strength of minority voters who saw greater turnout in 2008."

Of the 31 states that now require voters to show some form of identification at the polls, eight have what the National Conference of State Legislatures deems "strict photo ID" standards, a significant increase from the two states with such policies at the beginning of 2011.

Past versions of voter ID bills have failed in Virginia, though they may fare better this year with Republicans in control of the General Assembly. Even if they clear the Assembly, however, hurdles still exist.

As Virginia is covered by the federal Voting Rights Act, changes to election procedures must be cleared by federal authorities such as the Department of Justice, which last month refused to clear a new South Carolina ID law that's faced questions over how voters without identification will be treated.

A key consideration in such bills is protection for people who never obtained IDs but are legally entitled to vote, said Del. Scott Lingamfelter, a Prince William County Republican who supports the theory behind ID bills as a way to promote fair elections.

"Everybody who can lawfully vote, we want them to vote," added Del. Mark Cole, a Spotsylvania County Republican who submitted similar legislation in the House.

Critics who say there's scant evidence of election fraud in Virginia see a more sinister motive: voter suppression aimed at otherwise qualified voters who may lack the kinds of identification those bills would require, such as driver's licenses or Social Security cards.

"Clearly, it is an attempt on the part of some to target Democratic voters," said state Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico County, who fears that some black, poor, older and working-class voters would be disenfranchised if the Republican proposals become law.

"Frankly, it's mean-spirited and, in the absence of evidence of fraud, unjustifiable," he added.

Quantifying fraud is difficult under the current standards, countered Martin, the Chesterfield County Republican, who said even if fraud is isolated, "it doesn't have to be massive for it to make a difference" in a close election.

At least one state investigation into possible voter fraud is under way.

At the request of the State Board of Elections, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office is investigating alleged instances of double-voting in 2008 by voters who registered in different states.

Julian Walker, 804-697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com