Voters' league challenging ID law
The League of Women Voters of Indiana is challenging a state law.
The organization filed a complaint last week in Marion County Superior Court requesting that Public Law 109-2005, which requires Indiana residents to present a government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot at the polls on Election Day, be declared unconstitutional under the Indiana Constitution.
"The League of Women Voters' goal is to encourage citizens to participate in the democratic process," said Leslie Hanson, a member of the Greencastle chapter of the League of Women Voters. "The most fundamental right we as citizens have is the right to vote, and the league feels the Indiana Voter ID Law may unnecessarily discourage some people from going to the polls."
The Voter ID Law was passed in 2005. The league contends that it goes against Article 2, Section 2 of the state's constitution, which outlines the only qualifications for voting eligibility that can be legally imposed on voters without amendment to the Indiana Constitution.
"As the Indiana Voter ID law imposes an additional voting qualification on the citizens of Indiana that is not provided for in the Indiana Constitution, the league has filed its complaint challenging the law," a press release from the League of Women Voters of Indiana said.
"In crafting this law, the legislature failed to acknowledge that not all Indiana citizens have a printed birth certificate or the transportation to travel to various government agencies to gather documents, or the funds to purchase the documents required to get the necessary documentation," said Joanne Evers, president of LWVIN. "The populations most affected by this law include the aged, disabled, homeless, lower income, minorities, rural residents and women who have hyphenated names or whose names have changed as the result of marriage, divorce or remarriage."
Evers said the Voter ID Law is a "disenfranchisement of Indiana voters."
"The law hinders and discourages Indiana voters from participating in our representative government of checks and balances," she said. "Casting a vote on Election Day and having it count is the process by which 'of the people, for the people and by the people' is realized."