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On The Front Lines

Rutherford Institute Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Declare Unconstitutional an Indiana Law that Requires Voters to Produce Photo Ids in Order to Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a "friend of the court" brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd., challenging the constitutionality of an Indiana law that requires American citizens to produce valid photo IDs such as a driver's license or passport in order to vote. Insisting that this increasingly popular form of balloting restriction places a burden on the ease with which Americans can exercise their right to vote, Institute attorneys have asked the Court to declare the law unconstitutional. A copy of the Institute's brief is available here.

"This issue goes beyond partisan politics. If the Supreme Court upholds Indiana's photo ID requirement, it could open the door for the implementation of much more restrictive voter ID laws that mandate Real IDs as the only valid form of voter identification," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "In a post-9/11 age when privacy rights are already being impacted on a number of critical levels, requiring Americans to produce photo IDs when engaging in such a fundamental right as voting takes us another step closer to a 'show your papers' society."

There has been a marked rise in the adoption of voting laws in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election debacle, with more than 20 states requiring stricter measures that require the voter to produce some form of identification. In challenging Indiana's photo ID law, which went into effect in July 2005, Institute attorneys argue that the law, if it is allowed to stand, could result in the disenfranchisement of certain groups, particularly minorities, and further weaken privacy rights.

As Institute attorneys point out, photo IDs often contain far more information than that necessary to comply with voting requirements. For example, the Indiana driver's license contains the address of the holder, information about the holder's height and weight and the holder's driver's license number. Some older licenses also contain the holder's Social Security number. And as the brief makes clear, anything that reduces the privacy of voting undermines both voter confidence and the integrity of the process.

The Institute's brief also argues that if Indiana's photo ID requirement is upheld, it could open the door for states to require Real IDs as the only acceptable form of voter identification. Real IDs, in particular, pose a greater risk of abuse, as the biometric data contained on the cards could be obtained when the voter uses it to vote. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided in January 2007 to uphold the Indiana law. For purposes of review, Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd. was consolidated with Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita. It is expected that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case in January 2008 and issue a decision by summer, in advance of the presidential elections.

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