Current:Home > InvestBill targeting college IDs clears Kentucky Senate in effort to revise voter identification law -FutureWise Finance
Bill targeting college IDs clears Kentucky Senate in effort to revise voter identification law
View
Date:2025-04-18 15:59:59
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — College-issued student ID cards won’t carry the same weight as a form of photo identification at polling places if a bill that advanced Tuesday in Kentucky’s legislature becomes law.
The Senate voted to revise the state’s voter identification law by removing those student IDs from the list of primary documents to verify a voter’s identity.
The bill — which would still allow those student IDs as a secondary form of identification — won Senate passage on a 27-7 vote and heads to the House. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, a key supporter of the state’s 2020 voter ID law, has expressed opposition to the new legislation.
Supporters of the bill insist that the change would be no impediment to students’ ability to vote.
Students have other forms of primary documents, such as a driver’s license, to present at polling places, they said. If the bill becomes law, college ID cards could be used as a secondary form of identification enabling them to cast a ballot after attesting to their identity and eligibility to vote, supporters said.
“Anybody in college can read that affidavit and sign it and vote,” Republican Sen. Gex Williams said. “So there is absolutely, positively no impediment to voting with a student ID as a secondary ID.”
Republican Sen. Adrienne Southworth, the bill’s lead sponsor, said it makes a needed change to tighten the list of primary documents, which enable Kentuckians to “show it, no questions asked” at polling places.
“We need to be more careful about what we just have listed out there as approved without question,” Southworth said in an interview afterward. “It’s our job to make the election system as good as possible.”
Adams — whose mantra while in office has been to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat — has raised concerns about the bill’s potential impact on the voter ID law enacted in 2020. Adams has said the voter ID law was carefully crafted to try to ensure success against any court challenges.
“Secretary Adams is concerned that if this bill becomes law it could put the current photo ID law in jeopardy,” his spokeswoman, Michon Lindstrom, said in a statement Tuesday.
Senators opposing the bill said the Bluegrass State’s election system is working well and expressed concerns about what impact the change would have on voter participation among college students.
“We are sending the wrong signal to our young people,” said Sen. Gerald Neal, the top-ranking Democrat in the Senate.
Kentucky has avoided the pitched fights over election rules that have erupted elsewhere in the country. During that time, Kentucky successfully expanded voting and avoided claims of significant voter irregularity, Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said Tuesday. In 2021, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed GOP-passed legislation allowing three days of no-excuse, early in-person voting before Election Day.
The new bill would make another change to Kentucky’s election law by no longer allowing credit or debit cards to be used as a secondary document to prove a voter’s identity.
___
The legislation is Senate Bill 80.
veryGood! (65)
Related
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- Demi Lovato Recalls Feeling So Relieved After Receiving Bipolar Diagnosis
- 6 shot in crowded Houston parking lot after disturbance in nightclub, police say
- Newest doctors shun infectious diseases specialty
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- 18 Grossly Satisfying Beauty Products With Instant Results
- In Florida, 'health freedom' activists exert influence over a major hospital
- U.S. Solar Industry Fights to Save Controversial Clean Energy Grants
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Fossil Fuel Production Emits More Methane Than Previously Thought, NOAA Says
Ranking
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Confusion and falsehoods spread as China reverses its 'zero-COVID' policy
- South Africa Unveils Plans for “World’s Biggest” Solar Power Plant
- Demi Lovato Recalls Feeling So Relieved After Receiving Bipolar Diagnosis
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Florida Supreme Court reprimands judge for conduct during Parkland school shooting trial
- Spring Is Coming Earlier to Wildlife Refuges, and Bird Migrations Need to Catch Up
- Today’s Climate: September 13, 2010
Recommendation
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Finale Sees Gabe Break Down in Tears During Wedding With Isabel
U.S. Solar Market Booms, With Utility-Scale Projects Leading the Way
Boat captain twice ambushed by pod of orcas says they knew exactly what they are doing
Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
Where Is the Green New Deal Headed in 2020?
See How Days of Our Lives Honored Deidre Hall During Her 5,000th Episode
Global Warming Is Destabilizing Mountain Slopes, Creating Landslide Risks