[EL] Requiring facsimile of photo ID with mailed absentee ballot

[Justin Levitt]

Bills like this often have unintended consequences, and it wouldn't 
surprise me if the burdens of such a law exceeded the benefits.

That said, for those considering just one side of the equation, it is 
possible for such a bill to make it more difficult to fraudulently 
submit an absentee ballot request.  There's more information on the face 
of the ID than just the photo.  The absentee ballot request is submitted 
with a name.  The ID will also have a name, and at least the most 
prevalent photo IDs (driver's licenses and state substitutes for a 
driver's license) also have an identification number tied to that name. 
   Some registrants will have submitted a driver's license number (or 
state ID number) with their registration, so that information will be 
available on the rolls (and possible to compare to the information on 
the copy of the ID submitted with the absentee ballot).  Alternatively, 
the officials responsible for processing absentee ballot requests often 
have access to the state motor vehicle database, with at least the 
potential ability to verify the identification numbers submitted.  All 
of this is subject, of course, to time and effort and error cost 
(including a mistaken assumption that there's something fraudulent in 
requesting an absentee ballot to an address different from the address 
on the ID).  But it would be more difficult to submit an absentee ballot 
request on someone else's behalf if you had to fake a copy of the "ID" 
... and at least in states where the motor vehicle ID number isn't a 
readily derivable formula, it would be substantially more difficult 
still to fake an ID with the correct identification number on the face.

Indeed, I've wondered at the states that have quite strict rules for 
presenting ID at the polls, but no similar safeguards for absentee 
balloting.  Not only is the cost-benefit calculation even more skewed in 
such states, but these sorts of rules would seem to be channeling 
members of the public without ID directly into the form of voting known 
to be more susceptible to real malfeasance.

It should be noted that as described, the bill would only apply to 
absentee ballot requests, and not to the absentee ballots themselves.  
As a practical matter, that would increase the burden on groups seeking 
to engage absentee voters, but would still leave opportunity for fraud 
in the casting of the ballots.   And if Virginia has a current provision 
for permanent absentee voters (who have already requested receipt of 
absentee ballots for all elections into the future), the description 
below makes it seem like such voters would already be grandfathered in 
without extra requirements.

Justin Levitt

-- 
Justin Levitt
Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA  90015
213-736-7417
justin.levitt at lls.edu
ssrn.com/author=698321

On 2/8/2015 4:43 PM, Wesley Joe wrote:
> The Virginia House of Delegates' committee on Privileges and Elections 
> recently reported out a bill (HB1318) that would require "that any 
> voter submitting his application for an absentee ballot by mail or by 
> electronic or telephonic transmission to a facsimile device shall 
> submit with his application a copy of one of the forms of 
> identification acceptable under current law."
>
> Virginia's current photo ID requirement is fairly modest. But HB1318 
> makes no sense to me.  In all seriousness, how is the person who 
> counts the ballot supposed to use the photo on the ID?  To what should 
> he/she compare the photo?  Is there _any_ reasonable justification for 
> this requirement?  I would really like to know whether there any 
> reason to believe that this is something other than 1) an effort to 
> raise the cost of early voting, and 2) increase the probability of 
> ballot disqualification?  Thanks in advance.
>
>
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