Jim Hartman
A Nevada ballot initiative to require valid voter photo ID could be up for a statewide vote in November.
The initiative seeks to amend Nevada’s Constitution by requiring in-person voters to provide valid photo identification before receiving a ballot. That can include a driver’s license, passport, student photo ID card or concealed weapon permit.
The proposal would also require those voting by mail to provide part of a personally identifiable number – such as a driver’s license number or Social Security number – alongside their signature.
Thirty-six states now have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls. Nevada is among only 14 states without voter ID. Democrats in the Legislature refused to even hear Republican-sponsored bills on voter ID in 2021 and 2023.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Crawford vs. Marion County Election Board (2008), held 6-3 that an Indiana law requiring voters to provide photographic identification did not violate the U.S. Constitution.
An overwhelming majority of voters support laws that require individuals to show photo identification before voting.
A Rasmussen Report poll in 2021 found 75% of voters believe a photo ID should be required, including 69% of Black voters. Only 21% opposed voter ID laws.
Similarly, a Monmouth survey that year reported 81% of voters supported voter ID requirements, including 62% of Democrats. An earlier Gallup Poll measured 80% support for voter identification.
Nevadans across all demographic groups support requiring a photo ID when voting.
A February 2023 poll conducted by the Nevada Independent found 74% of Nevada registered voters support voters having to show ID when voting: 62% of Democrats, 93% of Republicans, and 68% of Independents/Non-Partisans.
In 2005, the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and former Secretary of State James Baker III, a Republican, recommended a photo ID system.
Other Democrats on the commission, including former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, joined in making what seemed at the time to be a common sense proposal.
How things have changed. Some of the commission’s members, including Carter, came out in 2021 to disavow the commission’s work. Democrats now bitterly resist voter ID as racist voter suppression.
President Joe Biden in a January 2022 speech engaged in outrageous demagoguery by likening voter ID laws to the country returning to “Jim Crow 2.0.” It was reckless political nonsense.
Nevada’s Voter ID initiative is proposed by Repair the Vote, a political action committee, led by former Clark County GOP Chair David Gibbs.
This initiative is the second time this PAC has tried to place a voter ID ballot measure before voters. Last year, it failed to receive enough signatures.
Gibbs claims supporters currently have 60,000 signed-up. To qualify for the ballot, petition supporters must gather 102,362 signatures from voters by June 26, with at least 25,591 signatures coming from each of the state’s four congressional districts.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s political advisers have connected the PAC to donors who will help fund the signature gathering campaign.
The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments on May 8 on legal challenges to the proposed ballot measure brought by Nevada and Washington, D.C.-based attorneys who typically represent Democrat-backed causes. A district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging the initiative in February.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine whether supporters can continue their ongoing signature-gathering effort as the June 26 deadline looms.
The U.S. is an outlier among the world’s democracies in not requiring voter ID. Of the 47 countries in Europe today, all 47 of them currently require government-issued photos to vote.
Whether it’s buying prescription drugs, driving a car, flying on a plane, photo ID is a requirement of everyday life.
Requiring voter photo ID is a common sense measure to ensure election integrity.
E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.