If a bill passed by the Kentucky General Assembly on Tuesday becomes law, university-issued student IDs would no longer carry the same weight as photo IDs at polling places.
The Senate passed an amendment to the state’s voter identification law that would remove student ID cards from the list of primary documents used to verify a voter’s identity.
The bill, which would continue to allow student ID cards as a secondary form of identification, passed the Senate on a 27-7 vote and will be sent to the House. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers.
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Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, a key supporter of the state’s 2020 voter ID law, has voiced opposition to the new law.
Supporters of the bill argue that the changes do not interfere with students’ right to vote.
Students have other forms of primary documentation, such as driver’s licenses, that they will need to present at the polling place. Supporters say the bill, if passed, would allow college ID cards to be used as a secondary form of identification to prove identity and voting eligibility before voting.
Kentucky State Senator Adrian Southworth speaks at the Kentucky State Capitol on January 2, 2024 in Frankfort, Kentucky. She is the lead sponsor of a bill that would remove university-issued student IDs from the list of usable primary documents. To verify the identity of the voter. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
“Any college student can read that affidavit, sign it, and vote,” Republican Sen. Jex Williams said. “Therefore, there is absolutely no impediment to using your student ID card as a second form of identification to vote.”
Republican Sen. Adrienne Southworth, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the necessary changes would be made to tighten the list of key documents that Kentuckians could “present no questions asked” at the polls. He said it would be.
“We need to be more cautious about what we list as approved without question,” Southworth said in a subsequent interview. “It’s our job to make our electoral system as good as possible.”
Adams, who has believed in making voting easier and harder to cheat during his time in office, has expressed concern about the bill’s potential impact on the Voter ID Act of 2020. . Adams said the voter ID law was carefully crafted to: We guarantee success in all court challenges.
“Secretary Adams is concerned that this bill, if passed, could jeopardize current photo ID laws,” Michonne Lindstrom, a spokeswoman for the secretary, said in a statement Tuesday. Stated.
Senators opposed to the bill said the Bluegrass State’s election system works well and expressed concerns about how the changes would affect college student voter participation.
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“We’re sending the wrong signal to young people,” said Sen. Gerald Neal, the top Democrat in the Senate.
Kentucky has avoided the bitter fights over election rules that have erupted in other parts of the country. Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said Tuesday that Kentucky was successful in expanding voting and avoiding serious allegations of voter fraud. In 2021, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed a Republican-passed bill allowing no-excuse early voting for three days before Election Day.
The new bill would make another change to Kentucky’s election laws by no longer allowing credit or debit cards to be used as secondary proof of voter identity.
