Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on Thursday defended his new voter identification proposal as an effort to improve administrative efficiency — not to prevent fraud or disqualify voters.
And he said he’d oppose any efforts by state lawmakers to expand the plan to include a more controversial photo-ID requirement for voters….
Iowa voters would be required to show a state-issued driver’s license, a passport or military ID card when they vote, allowing poll workers to scan a bar code on that document to accurately call up each voter’s file in the state database.
Should the law be enacted, election officials would identify all currently registered voters and new registrants who do not have appropriate ID and provide them a free, permanent, driver’s license-quality voter card containing the necessary bar code. The card would not include a photo.
No currently registered voters would risk disqualification under the plan, Pate said, and all new registrants without other ID would receive a free card. Voters who come to the poll without an ID card would vote a provisional ballot.
Pate said he’s abandoned a campaign pledge to enact photo identification requirements for voters and would fight legislative efforts to expand his proposal to include it.
“I have evolved,” Pate said. “What I want at the end of the day is the cleanest and best list to make sure everybody is eligible without imposing a lot of burden on the voter
Huh.