High court takes case on voter ID in Indiana ruling on state law may affect elections across the U.S

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20070926&Kategori=LOCAL19&Lopenr=709260483&Ref=AR&template=printart

The outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court battle over Indiana's voter identification law could help determine who gets to vote and who doesn't in future elections across the country, legal experts said.
The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear arguments challenging the law. Attorneys said they expected oral arguments to take place in January, with a decision to be handed down by the end of June, in time for the 2008 presidential election.
Foes of the law contend it places an unfair burden on voters, especially the poor and minorities; proponents claim that it asks no more of people than they're asked when they want to cash a check, board an airplane or rent a movie.
Opponents have been fighting to kill the 2005 law all along. They were dealt a blow when a federal judge upheld it in 2006, as did a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January.
But several law professors said the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case makes perfect sense for a court that might want to set guidelines for lower courts on how to weigh the risk of voter fraud against the risk of voter disenfranchisement.
"With the 2008 election around the corner, the fewer disputes we have over the rules, the better," said Richard L. Hasen, a professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "We don't want to be in the situation of another razor-thin election with a big question mark over whose vote is going to be counted."

FULL story at link.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Why don't the congress pass a law saying according to the

Civil Rights Bill no one would have to present ID to vote.

[CK_John]

2. Maybe because the state passed a law saying you need ID. It is a state issue. n/t