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October 18, 2006

Rokita: Voter ID law is legal

GOP, Dems argue over law’s effect on disenfranchised voters

By Austin Arceo

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita believes Indiana’s new voter identification law is constitutional, despite courts shooting down similar laws in other states and a lawsuit challenging Indiana’s law.

Rokita was at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, where a panel of federal judges heard a challenge against the new law. The Indiana Democratic Party and the American Civil Liberties Union claim the new law infringes upon Americans’ constitutional right to vote. The new law, passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, requires most people to show photo identification before voting.

In April, a federal judge upheld the law. “If people feel their vote is disenfranchised, then the voters will not come back,” Rokita, a Republican, said during a teleconference Wednesday in which he explained the reasoning behind the law.

Rokita and state Sen. Vic Heinold, R-5th, noted that the law was created to protect people from voter fraud. The law allows some exceptions to showing an ID, such as for those who have a religious objection, the indigent and people voting by absentee ballot.

But Democrats have argued that the law disenfranchises voters who lack photo identification, or have trouble finding the proper documentation — such as birth certificates — to obtain a necessary ID to vote.

“It’s a different variation, but it is the same theme as the poll tax [or] the literacy test,” said William Groth, who represents the Indiana Democratic Party in the case. “It’s a condition that is imposed on voters that will cause a certain percentage of voters to become disenfranchised, or they just won’t bother.”

Courts already have struck down voter ID laws in Missouri, Arizona and Georgia.

Heinold did not expect that the bill he sponsored would turn into a “hot potato” of a law that would be challenged in court.

Rokita noted during the teleconference that the first statewide election with the law in effect was during the primaries this year, with no major problems.

He considers voter fraud a major issue in Indiana, although Groth said that there is not one documented example of voter fraud in Indiana.

Heinold said that people committing fraud are “gone after they vote.”

“How can you come back to find them?” Heinold said during the teleconference.

Groth believes the law is “all about politics.”

“The Republican Party has decided that it’s to their political advantage to keep the number of voters who participate in the political process as low as possible,” he said.

People will need to show their IDs on Election Day, which is Nov. 7.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.

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