Pros And Cons Of Voter Identification Laws

Voter ID Laws: Limiting the Voting Process or Protecting American Citizens? In the past two decades, more and more attention has been given towards creating an “honest government,” having what is considered to be a more efficient way of voting, and protecting the rights of American citizens. The Voter Information Verification Act, more commonly known as the voter ID law, was passed in North Carolina in August of 2013. North Carolina is one of thirty-two states today, which are requiring voters to present a valid form of identification before they may be allowed to cast their vote. As a result, these states all over the country, with the help of this law, have begun making changes to the voting process in America, and have also created further controversies and discrepancies between the two major political parties. The voter ID law was passed as an attempt to …show more content…
House Bill 836 addresses any changes that could be made to the original bill that was passed in 2013, in order to make House Bill 589 more “voter-friendly.” House Bill 836 kept the photo identification requirement, but offered provisional ballots for those who could not obtain valid photo identification because of a reasonable impediment, (complete list of impediments given in Section 8. (d) Subsection e), such as lack of transportation, work schedule, etc. (General Assembly of North Carolina Session 2015 8). Provisional ballots may or may not be counted towards the election, but can still be filled out by a citizen if there are questions about their voting eligibility. Alternatives to providing photo identification were also listed, if a provisional ballot is recorded. A voter may provide other means of identification such as the last four digits of their Social Security Number and date of birth (General Assembly of North Carolina Session 2015