[EL] Kentucky new photo ID law just passed

[Douglas, Joshua A.]

Hi everyone,

For those who may not have seen this during all of the coronavirus news, I thought you might want to know that the Kentucky legislature just passed a strict photo ID law for voting. It will go to the Governor for a signature or veto; I suspect the Governor will veto the bill, but it takes only a simple majority to override the Governor's veto.

This is unfathomable. I've been tweeting<https://twitter.com/JoshuaADouglas/status/1240765300066471936?s=20> a lot about it, with various details, and I've also written several Op-Eds in the local paper, including today<https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article241335376.html>. Though I oppose photo ID laws, I had worked with the new Secretary of State to come up with a bill that would have as little impact on voters as possible. Unfortunately the legislature stripped two important provisions during the conference committee: out-of-state IDs no longer will count (though student IDs from any university in the U.S. are ok), and the reasonable impediment affidavit for voters without a photo ID will no longer have a catch-all provision, harming voters who might show up and not have an impediment that is not already on the form.

Keep in mind that Kentucky still requires an excuse to vote via absentee ballot. The May 19 primary was delayed to June 23; the new photo ID law would not go into effect for that election but would be implemented for the November primary.

I suspect we will see litigation.

I'll be happy to chat with any reporter who is interested; I've been in numerous conversations with legislators and the Secretary of State about the evolution of the bill.

I'm quite frankly shocked that the legislature moved forward during this pandemic. This needs to be a national story.

Josh


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Joshua A. Douglas
Thomas P. Lewis Professor of Law
University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law
620 S. Limestone
Lexington, KY 40506
859-257-4935
joshuadouglas at uky.edu<mailto:joshuadouglas at uky.edu>
Twitter: @JoshuaADouglas<https://twitter.com/JoshuaADouglas>

   Find me at www.JoshuaADouglas.com<http://www.joshuaadouglas.com/>.


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