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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Voter ID bill passes House

The Idaho House deliberates on Monday. Among bills passing the House on Monday morning were HB 496, requiring voters to show a photo I.D. to vote, and HB 492, to require training for elected Idaho coroners, who currently need not have any training. (Betsy Russell)
The Idaho House deliberates on Monday. Among bills passing the House on Monday morning were HB 496, requiring voters to show a photo I.D. to vote, and HB 492, to require training for elected Idaho coroners, who currently need not have any training. (Betsy Russell)

Legislation from House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, to require voters to show a photo I.D. in order to vote has cleared the House on a 64-6 vote, after a vigorous debate, and now moves to the Senate. Moyle said, "The right to vote in this country is a sacred right. ... We want to make sure that when you vote, that you are who you say you are." Opponents said Idaho has no problem with fraudulent voting now, and Rep. Donna Boe, D-Pocatello, spoke out against the bill. "It seems to me that one of the problems that we have with our elections is not necessarily people voting who are someone other than who they say they are, but not enough qualified people coming to the polls to vote," she said. "To me this legislation would present one more barrier to voters who choose to vote or who are thinking about going to the polls to vote." Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, told the House, "There is rumors, rampant rumors about fraudulent voting. ... I'm in favor of this bill if it does nothing else than put a halt to a lot of these rumors about fraudulent voting."

Moyle said there's no way to know if fraudulent voting is going on, because voters aren't required to show photo ID's. Under his bill, HB 496, those who don't have photo I.D. can sign an affidavit instead.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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