Voter ID Roundup: The Good, The Bad, and South Carolina

First, the good:

Today, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will hold a hearing on the wave of Voter ID legislation—passed by conservative legislators in at least seven states—in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Such laws threaten to disenfranchise millions of Americans, particularly students, low-income people, seniors, and people of color.

Follow Campus Progress on Twitter for coverage from the 2 p.m. hearing.

The hearing comes a day after positive news that the New Hampshire Senate upheld a veto of the state’s Voter ID law.

The bad:

Earlier this year, an undercover video revealed that a young person in Wisconsin was required to jump through a number of hurdles (figuratively) in order to obtain a voter ID card, including proving that his bank account has enough “activity” and being told that he must pay $28 because he didn’t explicitly ask for a free card.

It appears the directive not to tell people they're entitled to a free voter ID card was a state-wide one issued by a senior official in the state’s Department of Transportation, according to a memo leaked to The Capitol Times. The memo reads:

While you should certainly help customers who come in asking for a free ID to check the appropriate box, you should refrain from offering the free version to customers who do not ask for it.

The official who penned the memo defended it to the paper, saying the department won’t be “selling it at the counter as a free ID.”

But State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys rightly argues the directive only further disenfranchises Wisconsin citizens, calling the memo “proof that people are not going to be getting these IDs unless the say the ‘magic words’.”

And South Carolina:

After signing a Voter ID law, now under review by the Department of Justice, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said the state would offer free rides to the DMV for voters without proper ID.

But now the DMV says rides will only be offered to those “physically able to walk either on your own power, with a walker or with a cane,” that riders cannot bring a family member along, and that the department is “not prepared to deal with special needs.”

Advocates called the move discriminatory. DMV officials will meet today to discuss how they can provide rides or IDs to disabled persons.

Continue to follow Campus Progress for coverage of Voter ID at http://campusprogress.org/voter_id/

Brian Stewart is the journalism and online communications manager at Campus Progress.

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