Voter ID bill amended to allow sworn statements

The sponsor of a bill requiring voters to present a photo identification has amended the bill to allow voters without one to sign a sworn statement instead.

Under the amendment to House Bill 1047 by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, voters who don’t have a photo ID can sign a sworn statement under penalty of perjury so the signature can be verified by the county board of election commissioners. Absentee voters would be required to sign a sworn statement as well.

Prior to being amended, the bill passed the House, 74-21 on Jan. 31. The newly amended version will be heard by the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Tuesday, Feb. 21, Lowery said.

The original bill required voters without a photo I.D. to cast a provisional ballot and then return to the county board of election commissioners by noon following the election with a qualifying photo or document. Lowery said he believed he had the votes he needed to pass the Senate committee, which is composed of eight Republicans and no Democrats, without the amendment.

He said he had amended the bill based on discussions with Rita Sklar and Holly Dickson with the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and then hearing the same suggestion by a conservative election commissioner.

“I think it makes the bill better. It really does,” he said.

The Legislature in 2013 passed Act 595, which also required voters to present a photo identification at the polls, but it was struck down by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

The late Justice Donald Corbin wrote in his majority opinion that the measure added a qualification to voters that is not included in the Constitution. Justices Courtney Goodson, Karen Baker and Jo Hart, all of whom are still on the seven-member court, offered a concurring opinion based on the fact that the amendment was not passed with a two-thirds majority. They did not rule on the qualification issue.

Lowery has argued that the bill was written to withstand constitutional scrutiny by focusing strictly on voter registration. The bill has more valid IDs that can be presented at the voting booth than the 2013 law, including a driver’s license, passport, employee badge and others. Voters who do not have IDs will be provided free ones at state expense.

Photo ID equipment was purchased by the secretary of state and distributed to the counties after the 2013 law. After the Supreme Court decision, the equipment was collected and stored. However, according to Danielle Fusco, spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, not every county was able to account for all the working pieces, so some of the sets are not in working order.

Dickson, the ACLU’s legal director, said the amendment “takes positive steps,” but her organization still has concerns, especially after 1,200 ballots were not counted in 2014 despite no one being accused of wrongdoing. She said a provisional ballot still involves risks that a vote won’t be counted.

“We think that the state of Arkansas ought to trust voters here like voters in other states are trusted, where they swear they are who they say they are, they’re allowed to cast a regular ballot, and if they appear to have done something that was wrong, unethical or illegal, then they’re referred for investigation,” she said.

The House of Representatives is also considering referring a voter I.D.-related constitutional amendment to the voters in November 2018, among other proposed amendments.