America Votes Statement on Indiana Supreme Court Ruling

America Votes Statement on Indiana Supreme Court Ruling

The voice of every American citizen needs to be heard at the voting booth. It should be easier— not more difficult— for Americans to cast their ballots. This is why the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding Indiana’s law requiring voters to present government identification is so deeply disturbing.

This puts a judicial seal of approval on what is an obvious political powerplay out of the right-wing’s playbook. This law is as offensive as the poll tax was last century. It is crudely designed to disenfranchise poor people—including African-Americans, Latinos and Native-Americans.

ID requirements will also indirectly disenfranchise voters by placing an enormous new burden on our cash-strapped state and local election administrators. I remember watching with outrage voter lines wrapped around buildings and voters standing for hours in 2004 and 2006 trying to cast their ballots. With voter excitement and turnout reaching record levels across the country, this requirement only intensifies the problem of a system already in crisis.

Less than eight years after the 2000 election debacle, this disheartening ruling makes clear that the right-wing remains committed to making it harder for Americans to vote when we should be fixing our electoral system and lowering burdens.

America Votes and our partners will be working in states to ensure voters, policymakers, election administrators and others understand the tremendously negative impact of this decision and Voter ID laws generally, and work to minimize the burden upon voters in any way possible this year.