Supreme Court Decision Is Likely to Spur Voter ID Laws in More States

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Decision Is Likely to Spur Voter ID Laws in More States
By IAN URBINA
Published: April 29, 2008

WASHINGTON — Far from settling the debate over voter identification, the Supreme Court ruling on Monday upholding Indiana’s voter ID law is likely to lead to more laws and litigation, voting experts said. Lawmakers in at least four states may seek to pass stricter regulations in the next year or so, the experts said. In response, voting rights groups might sue on behalf of individuals or groups in an effort to exempt them....

Voting experts said the decision would have limited effects on voting in the primaries and presidential election because most state legislatures were not in session, could not call emergency sessions or did not have the makeup to pass ID bills. Voting experts predict legislative movement this year or next, especially in states with Republican legislative majorities and Republican governors....

In the Indiana primary next Tuesday, little will change, because the ID law has been in force. Twenty-five states require identification at the polls for all voters, including seven that require or can request photo ID. This year, Texas and at least nine other states, including California, Illinois, New Mexico and Virginia, have considered photo ID measures.

The ruling is likely to set off fierce debates where illegal immigration is a hot issue, experts said. In Texas, debate over photo ID in 2007 paralyzed the State Senate for weeks before the bill was rejected. In response to the new ruling, the Republican-controlled Legislature will probably be recalled to work on a new ID measure, voting experts said.

In Oklahoma, an identification measure will be debated shortly, and in Kansas, voting experts predict that lawmakers may act because the governor vetoed an ID bill last year.

Missouri lawmakers, who are in session, are likely to be encouraged in an effort to put the question on the ballot. In 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down an ID law.

Voting experts said a bill pending in Florida to make its ID law more restrictive was now more likely to pass....

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Wendy R. Weiser, a law professor at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, said it was important to remember that the ruling did not give the states a blank check to pass restrictive ID laws. “The court specifically left open the possibility of lawsuits against ID laws that burden specific groups of citizens like older voters, poor voters and students,” Professor Weiser said, “and all the legislation we have seen to date do, in fact, burden those groups.” But, she added, in putting virtually all the burden of proof on plaintiffs seeking to argue that laws illegally restrict their voting rights, the decision makes it much tougher for voting rights groups to prevail in court.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/us/29states.html?_r=1&oref=slogin