Last year, the General Assembly passed a law to close a loophole that had allowed Virginians to vote without presenting identification. But the law also greatly expanded the list of acceptable IDs to include utility bills, bank statements, government checks, paychecks, concealed weapons permits and student IDs.
Many of those forms of identification would be removed under HB1337, leaving voter registration cards, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, government-issued IDs and photo workplace IDs as forms accepted at the polls.
SB1256 would apply a stricter standard, requiring that voters present photo identification. Voters would need a government-issued photo ID that includes their address, such as driver’s license or passport, a photo ID from a Virginia college or university, or a workplace ID bearing a photo. As part of the bill, the commonwealth would provide, free of charge, voter registration cards with photographs. The current registration cards, which do not have photos, would no longer be accepted.
Republicans pushing for tighter ID standards cited the need to protect the integrity of elections. They pointed to an undercover 2012 campaign video in which the son of Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) can be heard discussing how a utility bill could be used to commit voter fraud. The office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) and Arlington police investigated but did not charge the congressman’s son, Patrick Moran.
