2 months ago
28
As the 2024 US presidential election approaches, set for November 5, debates over
voter identification laws
continue to rile up. While 35 states require voters to present some form of identification at the ballot box, 15 states still allow voting without a
voter ID
.
As of April 2024, according to
Ballotpedia
, 35
US states
mandate voter identification at the polls.
Of these, 24 states require photo identification, while 11 states accept other forms of identification. However, the remaining 15 states do not require voters to show any form of ID to cast their ballot. These states are: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington DC.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been a vocal opponent of voter ID laws. In a 2021 interview with Soledad O'Brien on BET, Harris expressed concerns that such laws could disproportionately affect rural communities, making it difficult for them to meet ID requirements.
"I don’t think that we should underestimate what that could mean," Harris said. "Because in some people’s mind that means, well, you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove you are who you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don’t – there’s no Kinko’s, there’s no Office Max near them. People have to understand that when we’re talking about voter ID laws, be clear about who you have in mind and what would be required of them to prove who they are."
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, during a recent rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, for former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, criticised the concept of voting without an ID and urged the public to register and participate in the election.
