State Senate passes voter-ID bill

A party-line vote in the State Senate on Friday passed HB 1337, which limits the forms of identification voters can use at the polls.

The vote was 20 to 20, with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling breaking the tie and voting for the bill.

Senate Democrats blasted the move as being “radical” in a press release issued Friday afternoon.

“A whole list of previously acceptable forms of I.D. that we just added to the code last year are being removed. The public was informed about this. There has been no misuse of these forms of I.D. This bill stops students, who may only have a student I.D. card, from using that I.D. This will prevent them from voting. This is simply a voter suppression bill,” Senator John S. Edwards (D-Roanoke) said.

“A year ago the Republicans insisted on changing voter I.D. laws,” State Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico). “To educate people about these changes, the state spent a lot of money. And my colleagues on the other side of the aisle insisted this was necessary. A year later, we still have no evidence of voter fraud. None at all. Changing the rules yet again will just confuse the voters. I think that those who didn’t like the last election results are trying to do exactly that – confuse voters.”