by Alex Meneses Miyashita
A woman protests the stereotyping of undocumented people as ‘illegals,’ during a May Day march in San Franciso (photos by Marvin J. Ramirez)
Latino organizations decried the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision April 28 backing an Indiana law that requires voters to show a government-issue photo ID to vote.
Concerned groups claim that the ruling, decided on a 6-3 vote, disenfranchises voters and primarily affects people of color, elderly citizens, the indigent and those with disabilities.
They maintain for many of these people the requirement is not as simple as it sounds, that the bureaucratic hurdles in order to obtain proper ID could be huge. The state provides free voter identification cards for those without government-issued IDs, but critics claim it would still impose burdens on many.
The state will be able to apply its ID law during this week’s primaries.
The ruling’s detrimental impact on Latino access to the electoral process will likely be felt not just in Indiana.
“Other states will now be encouraged to adopt similar requirements,” states the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The Oklahoma Senate is debating a similar proposal, although the sponsor of the bill put a hold on it last week, unsure there were enough votes for it to pass. Less severe than the Indiana law, it would validate other forms of identification such as utility bills or bank statements.
Supporters of photo ID requirements argue the purpose is to prevent voter fraud.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote Indiana’s intent to prevent fraud was “amply justified.”
Nina Perales, southwest regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the state “has no evidence of voter fraud to justify its onerous policy.”
Indiana is the seventh state to require a photo ID to vote.
The others are Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan and South Dakota. Missouri had the law but it was overturned by the state’s highest court. Eighteen other states require some form of ID.
Federal law requires all states task for some form of identification from first time voters registering by mail who did not verify their identity.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which took on the case against the state of Indiana, called that state’s law the “most restrictive” voter identification one in the nation.
The National Conference of State Legislatures explains that while every state has “some sort of recourse” for voters without identification to vote, in Indiana and Georgia voters can cast a provisional ballot but must return shortly afterwards with a photo ID for their ballot to count. Hispanic Link.
