Justice Department approves Virginia voter ID law

[IDemo]

Source: NBC News

The Justice Department has approved Virginia's new voter ID law, expanding the kinds of identification that will be honored at the polls while restricting the ability to vote without showing any ID.

Unlike states with the strictest photo ID requirement, Virginia will allow voters to cast a ballot if they present a student ID card issued by a state college or university as well as documents that carry no photo, including a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck showing the voter's name and address.

The state already honors Virginia voter registration cards that have no photo, as well as more traditional forms of identification, including a driver's license or other government ID as well as an employee photo identification card.

The new law also ends the current practice of allowing a voter to cast a regular ballot simply by signing a sworn declaration of identity. Under the new law, someone showing up at the polls without any form of identification will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. It will be counted only if the voter submits an approved form of identification within three days.

Read more: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/21/13395636-justice-department-approves-virginia-voter-id-law?lite

[KeepItReal]

1. Elections are decided in hours - provisional ballots are useless

There is no guarantee that a Provisional Ballot will even be counted.

http://projectvote.org/provisional-voting.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Same ID law we have here in Ala.

And last week the local paper published the names of everyone eligible to vote in each precinct, so people would have time to correct any mistakes.

[qwlauren35]

3. It will still be hard for the homeless to vote...

But I can't think of any other group that will be disproportionately compromised by this law.

But if I'm missing something, I'd like to hear it.