This week, Justices will hear a case challenging "whether an Indiana statute mandating that those seeking to vote in person produce a government issued photo identification violates the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution"Indiana Democratic Party, et. al. v. Todd Rokita, Indiana Secretary of State, et. al. Case No. 07-25
In 2005 Indiana passed a law requiring voters present a valid government issued ID those not having one could get one at a State Motor Vehicle Bureau presenting a birth certificate and some other document demonstrating residency.
U.S. 7th Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner said, "...No doubt most people who don't have voter ID are low on the economic ladder and thus, if they do vote, are most likely to vote for Democratic than Republican candidates..." Dissenting Judge Terrence Evans said, "...lets not beat around the bush. The Indiana voter photo ID law is a not too thinly veiled attempt to discourage election day turn out by certain folks believed to skew Democratic...We should...strike it down as an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote."
Republicans have argued that one needs to clamp down on voter fraud "...no one has claimed to have been denied the right to vote because of the law..." Democrats have argued that the law does impinge on the right to vote "...that there have been no proven instances of voter impersonation in Indiana..."
