Disenfranchised by Voter ID Laws

Robert Barnes reported that the Supreme Court will hear a politically divisive voter identification case next week ["Partisan Fissures Over Voter ID; Justices to Hear Challenge to Law," front page, Dec. 25].

However, he buried the lead: Millions of eligible, registered voters lack identification -- they do not drive, fly or routinely enter office towers, although they do vote and have done so most of their adult lives. Many of them -- poor, elderly, disabled and student voters -- lack the stringent government-issued photo identification required by Indiana and four other states.

Eighteen percent of voters over 65 and more than 3 million disabled people lack government IDs. African Americans obtain driver's licenses at half the rate of whites. Many rural elderly were born at home and have no birth certificates. The costs of getting a government ID can be prohibitive: up to $45 for a driver's license, $97 for a passport and more than $200 for documents proving citizenship. In 1966, the Supreme Court held that a $1.50 fee was an unconstitutional poll tax. These burdens are equally onerous.

Voters already attest that they are registered. They risk fines and jail if they lie about it.

States have an interest in protecting the integrity of elections, but burdening the right to vote with illogical requirements that potentially disenfranchise millions of voters is the wrong approach.

ROBERT BRANDON

President

KAREN NEUMAN

Legal Director

Fair Elections Legal Network

Washington

The Fair Elections Legal Network is a nationwide group of election lawyers that seeks to ensure maximum voting participation.