Voter Identification Bills Introduced in Congress
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Two bills introduced in this session of Congress would place more
identification requirements on those seeking to register to vote. Rep.
Phil Gringrey (R-GA) has introduced H.R. 4174, a bill that would
require individuals to provide proof of United States citizenship as a
condition of registering to vote. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) has
introduced H.R. 4530, a bill that would require any person registering
or reregistering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. H.R. 4530
directs states not to provide a ballot to any individual unless he
shows proof of citizenship. The states are to determine which
documents will be acceptable proof of citizenship under the advisement
of the Election Assistance Commission, Secretary of Homeland Security,
and Secretary of State. The two bills have a total of eight
co-sponsors between them, with two members' names appearing on both
bills.
A trade-off in privacy exists in the legal requirement of voter
registration to participate in publicly held elections. Voter
registration began its trek into common practice in the late 1890s,
when it was championed as a means of discouraging repeat voting and
the importation of voters from other jurisdictions to cast votes in
local and some state elections. Each state is responsible for
administering voter registration within its boundaries. Today, voter
registration forms may include requests for name, current and previous
address, home and work telephone numbers, birthplace, Social Security
number, birth date, race, gender, and party affiliation.
The Help America Vote Act, which became law in October 2002, requires
voter registrants to submit proof of identity by providing a state
issued identity document or the last four digits of their Social
Security number. Since 1997, non-citizens may be deported for voting
in local, state, or federal elections.
HAVA also establishes a computerized statewide voter registration list
requirement. Each state's election officer is directed to create a
uniform centralized interactive computerized statewide voter
registration list. The list is to be defined, maintained, and
administered at the state level and contains information for every
legally registered voter in each state. Under this system, the law
directs that a "unique identifier" is to be assigned to each legally
registered voter in a state. Further, the law directs that the list
should be coordinated with other agency databases within the state.
The system must be designed to allow any election official in the
state, including local election officials, to obtain immediate
electronic access to the information contained in the voter
registration database. The system must also allow unlimited access to
any local election official to the computerized list. This list will
serve as the official index of registered voters for any federal or
state election.
The law does require that the appropriate state or local official
shall provide adequate technological security measures to prevent
unauthorized access to the computerized list.
H.R. 4174:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.4174:
H.R. 4530:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.4530:
The Help America Vote Act is available at:
http://www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htm
National Committee for Voting Integrity:
http://www.votingintegrity.org
For more information about voter privacy, see EPIC's Voting Page:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/voting
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