Voter ID bill raises concerns

Supporters of a proposed voter ID bill call it an effort to prevent federal voting fraud. But civil rights advocates call the measure a modern-day poll tax with the potential to disenfranchise millions.

The Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006, sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill. and substituted by Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and require showing photo identification at the polls starting in 2008. Starting in 2010, voters would have to show photo identification at the polls that can only be obtained by citizens.

Hyde has said the bill, scheduled to be heard on the House floor today, would prevent non-citizens from voting in elections, and he has noted that a photo ID requirement to vote was a recommendation of the Federal Commission on Election Reform.

However, the bill's opponents say the only qualifying documents currently available are a passport or naturalization certificate issued since 2002.

And they point to the $97 it costs to obtain a passport as an obstacle to voting that could undermine the recent re-enactment of the Voting Rights Act.

"This is money to pay to vote — a modern poll tax," said Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP. "It is in fact a logistical nightmare for millions of voters."

Some of those voters are Native Americans born on reservations, senior citizens, and rural citizens, who may not have a birth certificate, along with anyone who doesn't have a passport, he said.

However, Salley Collins, press secretary for the Committee on House Administration, which favorably reported the substituted bill last week, said states will have to issue identification and pointed to appropriations in the bill to provide the identification for free to indigent voters.

"There are other documents that can be used here, we don't expect everyone to have a passport," Collins said. "Theoretically, it's going to be your (state) identification or your driver license."

Julie Fernandes, senior counsel for the Leadership Conference on Civil rights, called the provision for state identification "vague." Fernandes added it's questionable whether it would help poor people vote because it only authorizes appropriations but doesn't actually appropriate any money. It also, she said, doesn't authorize funds for people to obtain the necessary documents to prove they are a citizen, such as a birth certificate — generally $15 in Utah.

"Who's going to do this in order to vote?" she said.