Senators spar over voting-fraud prevention measures

The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing today on “In-Person Voter Fraud: Myth and Trigger for Disenfranchisement?”

Chairwoman of the committee Diane Feinstein (D-CA) opened the hearing by briefly reminding the committee of the nation’s history of preventing citizens from voting. She said that poll taxes, literacy tests, and requirements to own property were among the most “egregious” forms of this. She said that the committee was holding the hearing to decipher whether or not contemporary forms of voting fraud was prevalent enough to cause concern.

The issue of requiring voters to present photo IDs at polling stations in order to cast a ballot was extensively discussed and revealed a stark partisan divide between Republican proponents of the policy and the Democrats who expressed opposition to such a measure. Only three states–Georgia, Indiana, and Missouri–have passed laws requiring voters to present government-issued photo IDs at polling stations, but Feinstein said that Congress must take a step back and study cases of voter fraud before rushing to pass legislation requiring photo ID to vote. She said that 11% Americans old enough to vote have never been issued government-ID which could potentially prevent 21 million Americans from voting.

Ranking member of the committee Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) disagreed with Feinstein and cited several instances of voter fraud that he said were causes for concern. But Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) rebutted telling Bennett that not a single case of voter fraud that he mentioned–including a case from the ’70s–could have been prevented by a law requiring voters to show photo-IDs.