Bill Pushed to Require I.D. at Voting Booth

With a voter fraud investigation continuing to boil in Orange County, Secretary of State Bill Jones and a local assemblyman have joined forces to push for legislation requiring voters to present a driver’s license or other identification before casting a ballot.

The measure, which is being introduced by Assemblyman Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton), faces a tough test in the deeply divided state Legislature.

Though Republicans are expected to unite behind Ackerman’s bill, Democrats have traditionally opposed such election day requirements, saying it could effectively disenfranchise some voters and create long lines and headaches at the polls.

Republicans believe the measure might have a better chance because of the powder-keg situation in Orange County, where Hermandad Mexicana Nacional is under fire for allegations of voter fraud.

In recent weeks, the Orange County district attorney’s office has seized the files of hundreds of students who attended Hermandad citizenship classes and may have registered to vote before being sworn in as citizens. If the investigation leads to indictments, it could provide the public relations boost the Ackerman bill would need to overcome the Democrats, who control both houses.

Ackerman contends the identification requirement at polling places is an idea that should have been in place all along.

“You have to provide more documentation to sign up your kid for soccer than you do to go and vote,” Ackerman said. “I think this would be very easy to comply with. It doesn’t put any real additional burden on the electorate.”

The bill requires voters to present some form of documentation proving their identity and residency when they go to the polls.

Voters could use a California driver’s license, identification card, voter registration card or sample ballot pamphlet, military identification card, citizenship document or birth certificate. To prove residency a voter could show any of those plus a telephone or utility bill.

If the voter didn’t have such documentation, they could vote on a provisional ballot that would be accepted once they were able to provide proof of their status.

“I think of it as a way of protecting the fair elections process,” said Assembly GOP Leader Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove). “You have to show identification when you write a $5 check at a grocery store. I believe the privilege and right of a vote cast is of far more importance than a $5 check.”

Pringle said the bill’s chances will hinge on how much the public weighs in. “If people don’t talk to their legislators, this type of bill tends to disappear.”

Democrats say voter fraud really isn’t a problem in California and that laws are already in place to handle overt cases. They note that Ackerman’s proposal likely wouldn’t have blocked any of the alleged abuses that occurred in the Hermandad case, and that existing felony statutes will prove effective if prosecutions are necessary in Orange County.

In addition, Democrat leaders say that the Ackerman bill is rooted in partisan politics. They contend that Republicans see it as a way of throwing up a roadblock for less-dutiful Democrat voters who might be put off by long lines or other inconveniences at the polls. In low-turnout elections, GOP candidates often fare better because Republicans are more faithful about going to the polls.

“It’s not going to solve a problem, it’s going to create a larger problem by inconveniencing voters and increasing the burden of exercising the right to vote,” said Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). “The practical impact is this will have a partisan outcome. Whenever barriers to voting are erected, that helps Republican candidates.”

Similar bills in the past have routinely been derailed by Democrats in committee hearings. Last year, a measure almost identical to Ackerman’s died in the session’s final days, and a more strident measure that would require proof of citizenship before registering to vote also was killed.

Lockyer predicted a similar outcome this year, suggesting that the Hermandad episode is an isolated case that does not prove any widespread pattern of voter fraud that begs a statewide solution.

Alfie Charles, a secretary of state’s office spokesman, said the measure is simply a good-government effort and not partisan politics. He said that the state of Hawaii actually experienced an increase in voter participation when it instituted such a requirement.

“From our viewpoint, it’s purely a way to guarantee the integrity of the election process,” he said. “When Secretary Jones and I went down to Nicaragua to observe their elections, they required identification from every citizen. It seems odd that a Third World country includes voting safeguards we don’t have here.”