Voter ID bills decried by Democrats advance

A bill that would require voters who show up at the polls without identification to cast provisional ballots is headed to the House floor after being lambasted by Democrats in a committee hearing Friday.

On a 16-6 vote, the Committee on Privileges and Elections advanced House Bill 9, sponsored by Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, the committee's chairman. The legislation would alter existing law, which allows anyone who claims to be a registered voter to cast a regular ballot, even without proper identification.

All but one Democrat on the committee, Del. Johnny S. Joannou, D-Portsmouth, opposed the change, claiming it could suppress the votes of minorities as well as the elderly, the young and the poor.

"There's no way humanly possible that I can support this bill," said Del. Algie T. Howell Jr., D-Norfolk.

"I don't know why we have this bill in front of us if we don't have documented cases of voter fraud or problems at the polling place," added Del. Kenneth C. Alexander, D-Norfolk.

Republicans argued that the bill is a common-sense solution to a problem with the existing law.

Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, asked a representative from the State Board of Elections what would happen under current law if 15 people all voted under the same name, even after the name was crossed off the list.

"Under the letter of the law, I believe those individuals would be permitted to vote on the voting equipment at the polling place," replied Justin Riemer, deputy secretary at the elections board. "Those votes are counted."

Riemer noted that someone without ID claiming to be a person who has already voted would be "challenged" on the issue, and forced to sign an affidavit swearing to be that person, but could still ultimately vote.

He added that "theoretically" the person who falsely signed the affidavit could be prosecuted.

But as Bell noted, "We don't know who they are; all we know is who they're not."

"I'm trying to understand what the controversy of the bill is," said Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, noting that the provisional ballots are reviewed the day after the election by the local electoral board.

"If they are legit, they get counted," Albo said. "If they're not legit, they don't get counted."

On Friday afternoon, the ACLU decried the bill as a voter-suppression measure.

"This bill serves absolutely no function but to make it more difficult to vote in Virginia," said Kent Willis, executive director for ACLU of Virginia. "Every indication is that elderly persons, low-income persons and racial minorities — who have the same constitutional right to vote as everyone else — will be the most affected by this law."

Willis also took exception with another of Cole's bills that cleared the committee (House Bill 63) on a 17-5 vote. It would close to the media and the general public electoral board meetings called to count provisional ballots.

Willis said the bill would cut off the meetings to those "we depend on to keep election officials accountable."

On a 19-3 vote, the committee also reported to the House floor a bill that would allow write-in votes at primary elections.

House Bill 1132, also sponsored by Cole, would not apply to the March 6 Republican presidential primary for which only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul qualified.

The committee shot down legislation that would require localities to identify on the ballot the party affiliation of any candidate nominated by a political party as is required for federal, statewide and General Assembly elections.

House Bill 769, introduced by Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, was defeated 12-10.