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Friday, June 20, 2008

Ind. Courts - "State's voter ID law faces challenge" again

The Indianapolis Star has posted a brief, unsigned story reporting that:

A former City-County Council member and former Democratic party attorney will announce this afternoon the filing of a fresh challenge of the law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls.

What's different this time, said Karen Celestino-Horseman, an attorney and Democrat who lost her council seat in 2003, is that the complaint is based on the violation of the Indiana Constitution instead of federal voting law. She and Bill Groth, former party attorney, will file the complaint on behalf of the League of Women Voters in Indiana.

The ILB has obtained a copy of the League's press release, and the complaint, which was filed in Marion County Superior Court.

From the release:

The League’s challenge is based upon Art. 2, Sec. 2 of the Indiana Constitution which sets forth the only qualifications for voting eligibility that can legally be imposed upon voters without further amendment of the Indiana Constitution. For example, the Indiana Constitution was amended in 1882 to grant the legislature power to enact a voter registration program.

As the Indiana Photo 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.

President of the LWVIN, Joanne Evers, 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.” Evers said, “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 concluded that the Indiana Photo ID Law is a disenfranchisement of Indiana voters.

The League of Women Voters of Indiana contends that the Indiana Photo ID Law imposes a qualification upon voters not provided for in the Indiana Constituion. “The law hinders and discourages Indiana voters from participating in our representative government of checks and balances,” said Evers. “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,” concluded Evers.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 20, 2008 01:56 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts