Many people who made the grave error of not updating their drivers’
licenses after moving [gasp] were rejected from the polls last Tuesday. The GOP’s latest disenfranchisement strategy, tightening
voter-ID requirements, might have worked a little too well. Among those rejected was Republican
Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio. (Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South
Carolina was also turned away but not because of a new law). They had
enough time and will to go home and retrieve another ID. God only knows
how many people didn’t.
Poll workers zealously enforced new requirements, even in states where courts had struck them down. For one, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan had to argue her way
into the booth.
The requirements are a complicated patchwork of laws across the country. States that have recently
tightened laws and now require a photo ID are Arizona, Indiana, New Mexico (but only in Albuquerque), and Ohio (but only for in-precinct voting, and a lawsuit is still pending). On the other hand, courts
blocked laws that legislatures passed that would require IDs in Georgia and Missouri.
Michigan’s Supreme Court is currently debating a photo-ID requirement and Arizona has increased the documentation you need to register to vote.
Here are the laws in every state.
—April Rabkin
