Utah Legislature: House votes down Medicare ID bill

An attempt to make casting a ballot a little easier for Utah's elderly citizens in the wake of new voter ID requirements was crushed in the Utah House on Thursday.

The current forms of photo identification acceptable at polls include a driver's license, state or federal ID card, U.S. passport, a tribal identification card or a Utah concealed weapons permit. In lieu of a photo ID, voters can bring two other documents from an approved list.

Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, hoped her HB79 would add Medicare cards to that list, but instead the idea unleashed a torrent of debate on the House floor Thursday. Some GOP members warned that the addition would create new, and unacceptable, opportunities for voter fraud. Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, opposed the measure and said the most relevant issue was "to make sure our elections are beyond question."

"I find it concerning that this has become a debate about the elderly versus everybody else," Lockhart said. "That's not what this is about. This is about the validity of our elections."

In presenting her bill, Poulson cited two studies that concurred that the estimated rate of voter fraud was so small as to be virtually nonexistent.

Some members poked fun at the contention that there was an underground of senior citizen immigrants looking to upend the election process. Others simply recognized the unique difficulties facing elderly voters in meeting the new voting requirements, and how the current list seems skewed to a particular demographic.

"I have the second oldest district in the state," said Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Salt Lake. "The people want to go to the polls, and I know how tough it is to get an elderly person some of these IDs that we're talking about.

"I don't know how many of them own guns, but I'm sure they have a permit if they do."

In a summation of her bill, Poulson discounted the fraud argument and asked members to recognize a duty to senior citizens.

"This is a bill about us, about our elderly mothers and fathers," Poulson said. "We would not want to disenfranchise this population by continuing to throw barriers in their path."

The bill was defeated on a 47-27 vote that mostly followed party lines.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com