Senate advances bill to require photo ID at polls
By The Associated Press
Monday, February 28, 2005 10:51 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS - Voters would be required to show a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification at polling places under a bill passed Monday by the state Senate.
Democrats said the requirement could discourage some people from voting, but Republicans said it would give voters confidence. The Senate voted 31-17 along party lines to advance the bill, which will now move to the House for consideration.
Requiring voters to show a driver's license, federal photo ID or passport would prevent people from coming into the same polling place and voting more than once under different names, said Sen. Victor Heinold, R-Valparaiso. That would give voters more faith in elections, Republicans said.
''This bill makes common sense,'' Heinold said. ''We've worked very hard to not discriminate against anyone in this bill.''
But Democrats said it was unfair to people who do not have photo IDs, including senior citizens who don't drive and those who cannot afford to pay the fee to get a photo identification card. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles issues such IDs for $9.
''That is the equivalent of a poll tax,'' said Sen. Lindel Hume, D-Princeton.
Those who cannot afford a photo identification or who have religious objections to being photographed can cast a provisional ballot, then return later and sign an affidavit stating why they do not have a photo ID. The bill would not affect procedures for casting absentee ballots.
Sen. Tim Lanane, a Democrat from Anderson, said no one would want to come back and sign a ''pauper affidavit,'' and that the bill could discourage some people from voting. The state already has measures to deal with possible voter fraud, he said.
Sen. Connie Lawson, R-Danville, said showing identification at the polls is simply a way to confirm a voter is who he or she claims to be.
''It protects the integrity of our election system,'' she said.
In other Senate action Monday:
- The Senate did not advance a bill opposed by Democrats that would have made the secretary of state the tiebreaker on Election Commission votes. Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, said he did not want to move the bill because he did not like a proposed amendment to it that would have made an arbitrator the tiebreaker on such votes.
- The Senate rejected a bill on a 23-25 vote that would have started a pilot program to put cameras at traffic lights in 10 Indiana cities to photograph drivers who run red lights.
- The Senate made minor changes to a proposal to create a tax amnesty program, which would give people and businesses a chance to pay back taxes without interest, penalties or prosecution. The Senate could vote on the bill Tuesday.
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