Debate over voter ID returns to Maine State Home
This text seems by way of a media partnership with Maine Public.
Supporters and opponents of a so-called “voter ID” legislation had been again on the State Home on Monday arguing over whether or not such a requirement would encourage extra confidence in elections or undermine voter participation.
Voter ID has turn into a partisan subject in Maine, which is considered one of simply 13 states that don’t require people to indicate some type of identification earlier than coming into the poll field. And with Democrats controlling of each chambers of the Legislature, this newest push for a voter ID requirement in Maine faces an uphill climb.
However Republican Sen. Matt Pouliot of Augusta and different supporters cited nationwide polls suggesting {that a} sturdy majority of Individuals help displaying a photograph ID earlier than voting. Whereas Pouliot says he believes Maine is doing job of making certain that elections are “free and truthful,” he acknowledged that some individuals proceed to imagine fraud is occurring throughout the election system and that “whether or not we prefer it or not, notion is actuality.” Throughout a roughly three-hour listening to, he and different supporters argued that passing a voter ID legislation may assist handle these voters’ issues about election fraud.
“Within the face of such staggering drops in public confidence, why would we not take it upon ourselves to supply confidence within the system?” Pouliot stated. “Whether or not some assume voter ID will transfer the needle or not, we additionally can’t present that it . . . won’t assist. If we should not have knowledge displaying that requiring ID will truly disenfranchise voters, why then would we not use it to assist restore confidence in our system of democracy in additional voters once more?”
Pouliot’s invoice would require the state to subject a photograph ID without cost to any eligible voter who doesn’t have one.
However his invoice was staunchly opposed by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in addition to the ACLU of Maine, Incapacity Rights Maine, the Maine Girls’s Foyer, the Maine Transgender Community, Maine Conservation Voters and the League of Girls Voters of Maine. Opponents stated that the voter ID legal guidelines do have a chilling impact on voter participation, notably among the many aged, the disabled and in lower-income and minority communities. Some eligible voters, such because the aged, now not have an energetic driver’s license whereas others may very well be turned away as a result of the identify or gender on their license is completely different than the way in which they current themselves on the voting sales space.
Bellows, who previously headed the ACLU of Maine, identified that Mainers are already required to indicate proof of residency on the time of their voter registration and election fraud is a felony in some cases. Moreover, Bellows stated there was no proof of voter impersonation on the polls in current a long time in Maine.
“We should always all be very proud that Maine ranks constantly on the very prime of the record in voter participation within the nation,” Bellows stated. “Proponents of this invoice have argued that we’re an outlier and urged us to undertake practices in different states. I might urge warning in adopting any measures that might create boundaries to the proper to vote and drag Maine’s voter participation and public confidence in elections all the way down to the degrees of apathy and voter participation that different states undergo . . . all voters ought to have the liberty to vote equally and any payments that infringes on that freedom must be regarded with the strictest scrutiny with reference to want and the general public’s curiosity.”
The committee will maintain a piece session on the invoice on a future date.
