New voter ID rules put votes at risk

When Edward and Mary Weidenbener went to vote in Indiana's primary in May, they didn't realize that state law required them to bring government photo IDs, such as a driver's license or passport.

The husband and wife, both approaching 90, had to use a temporary ballot that would be verified later. Unaware that Indiana law obligated them to follow up with the county election board, the Weidenbeners ultimately had their votes rejected.

Edward Weidenbener, a World War II veteran who had voted for Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential contest, said he was surprised by the rules and the consequences.

"A lot of people don't have a photo ID. They'll be automatically disenfranchised," he said.

As more states put in place strict voter ID rules, an AP review of temporary ballots from Indiana and Georgia, which first adopted the standards, found that more than 1,200 such votes were tossed during the 2008 general election. During sparsely attended primaries this year in Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee, hundreds more ballots were blocked.

The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent. Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy this November, when more states are looking to have similar rules in place.

More than two dozen states have some form of ID requirement, and 11 of those passed new rules over the past two years, largely at the urging of Republicans who say they want to prevent fraud, though there is scant evidence of past fraud.

Democrats and voting rights groups fear that ID laws could suppress votes among people who may not typically have a driver's license, and disproportionately affect the elderly, poor and minorities. While the number of votes is a small percentage of the overall total, they have the potential to sway a close election. Remember that the 2000 presidential race was decided by a 537-vote margin in Florida.

A Republican leader in Pennsylvania said recently that the state's new ID law would allow Romney to win the state over President Barack Obama.

Supporters of the laws cite anecdotal cases of fraud as a reason for more secure elections, but fraud appears to be rare. In its effort to build support for voter ID laws, the Republican National Lawyers Association last year published a report of 400 election fraud prosecutions over a decade for the entire country. That's not even one per state per year. Moreover, ID laws would not have prevented even many of those cases because they involved vote-buying schemes in local elections or people who falsified voter registrations.

Election administrators and academic experts said in-person fraud is rare because someone would have to impersonate a registered voter and risk arrest.