Strickland, Brunner on Losing Side of Indiana Voter Photo ID Law

ePluribus Media OhioNews Bureau

COLUMBUS, OHIO: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and state elections chief Jennifer Brunner are on the losing side of a ruling by the US Supreme Court Monday that upheld Indiana’s law requiring citizens voting in person to present government-issued photo identification to be both constitutional and a valid way to improve election procedures and deter fraud.

Both Ohio leaders have voiced opposition to Indiana’s controversial law some say is needed to bring confidence and integrity to elections while others say it makes voting for some populations more difficult.

The 6-to-3 ruling will be viewed through partisan political prisms. Republicans like Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita say the Court’s ruling is a “victory for voters and taxpayers of Indiana and the entire country.” Democrats like Strickland and Brunner and other election experts say it reduces voting because it places unneeded hurdles on the elderly, the poor or members of minority groups, who have historically been associated as supporters of their party.

Linda Greenhouse reported in the New York Times that the Court acknowledged that “the record of the case contained ‘no evidence’ of the type of voter fraud the law was ostensibly devised to detect and deter, the effort by a voter to cast a ballot in another person’s name.” The Court also said that “neither was there ‘any concrete evidence of the burden imposed on voters who now lack photo identification,’” according to Greenhouse who quoted the author of the “lead opinion,” Justice John Paul Stevens, saying the “risk of voter fraud” was ‘real,’ he said, and there was ‘no question about the legitimacy or importance of the state’s interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters.’”

The Court’s ruling on a law that is generally acknowledged the strictest in the country came eight days before the next important primary on May 6 in Indiana. In a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon about the ruling, Rokita said voter registration is up significantly in anticipation of the next ballot-box slug fest between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, as they fight their way to the nomination in August in Denver, the site of the 2008 Democratic convention.

Rokita said a total of 4,318,468 voters are now registered. Of the 300,000 voters who have joined the voter rolls since the start of the calendar year, 160,000 of them are new voters.

“Indiana won a national battle for voter protection,” Rokita said, complimenting his legal team who were defendants in the case known in legal shorthand as Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. He said “leaders are thanking Hoosier for raising the bar and protecting and improving the integrity of the election process and giving much needed confidence in it.”

Rokita called on plaintiffs and their supporters to work as hard at informing the public now the law has been upheld as they did in trying to disqualify the law based on their belief that it was politically motivated. Describing the law as a “common sense…balanced approach” to smoother elections, he said, “Those who spent so much time, so much energy, so much money in fierce opposition to this common sense law, will now spend equal amounts of time, energy and money continuing to inform Hoosiers and their constituents of this common sense requirement.”

“Indiana’s ID law is about accuracy - are we going to demand accuracy through integrity in our election process? The answer from the Supreme Court echoes that of the American people. Yes, we want accurate elections that protect each individual’s vote.” stated Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

CRITICS WEIGH IN

Experts who have followed this case say the ruling doesn’t preclude a different decision from the Court if a single voter can be found who can make a case that the law, applied in an election, did to them what critics of the bill said it would do to everyone, a broad-brush argument the justices rejected.

Strickland responded later in the afternoon to a request by ePluribus Media OhioNews Bureau for a comment on the decision.

“The governor has long been opposed to photo-identification requirements for voting, as he believes we should be working to expand the electorate rather than reduce it,” said Keith Dailey, Strickland’s director of communication.

Brunner, who had participated in briefs supporting the plaintiffs in the suit, had not posted any comment on her agency Web site by the end of the day.

The Ohio GOP used the Court’s ruling to blast Brunner for again being on the wrong side of an important court decision. The GOP’s Kevin DeWine said Ohio’s voter ID law was designed to prevent fraud and promote voter confidence, and the high court’s ruling vindicates those reforms. He gave Brunner a political upper cut when he said the Court’s ruling defies the “partisan agenda” of a Secretary of State who “declared Ohio's voter identification law 'a bad idea' and a 'disgrace' to our state.” DeWine said “that opinion is perhaps better applied to her reckless management of our elections system."

Another informed critic on election issues issued a media release on the decision following a request by the OhioNews Bureau for comments. The Brennan Center for Justice, located in New York, called on lawmakers across the country to enact laws that protect the right to vote. The decision, the release said, “did not give other states a blank check to block eligible voters.

According to the Indiana SOS, who based his comment on calls his office had fielded from interested lawmakers, he thought about 25 states were ready to move forward on their own photo identification law.

“This year, millions of new voters are surging into the political process. Lawmakers should be encouraging full participation by eligible citizens, not erecting new barriers to voting. This is precisely the wrong message for the Supreme Court to send in this critical year. We shouldn't give partisans an excuse to find ways to keep people from voting," said Michael Waldman, the Brennan Center’s Executive Director.

Wendy Weiser, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said today’s ruling is not the end of the story on voter ID. Although the Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law. Weiser said it did not say that states must or even should pass restrictive ID laws.

“Now it’s up to legislators and courts in states like Texas, Missouri, and Florida to decide if they are going to follow Indiana’s lead and disenfranchise American citizens, or if they’re going to protect the right to vote for all Americans as we head into a critical national election.” Weiser said the Court left open the possibility of future lawsuits against restrictive ID laws that prevent people from voting.

The Brennan Center noted that 10-12 percent of eligible voting-age Americans do not have voter government-issued photo identification, particularly low-income, minority, senior and student voters. Weiser said the challenge going forward to make voting easier for everyone is for state and federal legislatures to reject the restrictive policy the Court approved today and “make affirmative measures like universal- and election-day voter registration integral to the fairness and security of our elections.”

“There’s real enthusiasm at all levels of the country to make it easier for eligible citizens to vote and have their vote counted. Today’s decision only affirms the need to make that happen,” said Weiser.

Asked whether the court ruling will give election and law enforcement officials in Indiana greater impetus to seek out cases of voter fraud now the law has been upheld to show the bill was needed, Rokita said photo identification “will go far to eliminate voter fraud,” adding he expects it to be less of an issue. “The issue is largely removed from the table,” he said, using the ruling to make the case that the voters will have more confidence now that voting requires presenting similar identification to renting a video.

Responding to a follow up question by OhioNews Bureau about whether he thinks Indiana has a tight enough voter system, Rokita said he likes the law as it is now, ,but wants to push for integrated vote centers, so Hoosiers can go anywhere and “vote as if you were in your precinct.”

Rokita said Indiana poll workers will be asked to “watch out for zealous campaigns” who may set people up for voter fraud. He has sent a letter to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns of their rights and the rights of voters.

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