Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Indiana Voting Law Upheld:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_12_31-2007_01_06.shtml#1167946504
Today, in [1]Crawford v. Marion County Voting Board, a divided panel
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected a
constitutional challenge to Indiana's new photo ID requirement for
voting. Writing for himself and Judge Diane Sykes, Judge Richard
Posner held that the photo ID requirment did not impose an undue
burden on the right to vote, even though the law would deter some
individuals from voting, and even assuming that the law would have
disproportionate effects on voters of one party.
In ananlyzing the statute, Posner rejected strict scrutiny, observing:
The Indiana law is not like a poll tax, where on one side is the
right to vote and on the other side the state�s interest in
defraying the cost of elections or in limiting the franchise to
people who really care about voting or in excluding poor people or
in discouraging people who are black. The purpose of the Indiana
law is to reduce voting fraud, and voting fraud impairs the right
of legitimate voters to vote by diluting their votes � dilution
being recognized to be an impairment of the right to vote.
According to the majority, the law represents a reasonable regulation
designed to balance the right to vote with the state's interest in
reducing the likelihood of voter fraud.
Judge Evans dissented:
Let�s not beat around the bush: The Indiana voter photo ID law is a
not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election-day turnout by
certain folks believed to skew Democratic. We should subject this
law to strict scrutiny�or at least, in the wake of Burdick v.
Takushi, . . . something akin to �strict scrutiny light� � and
strike it down as an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote.
References
1. http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/ZH0WD2QR.pdf
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