Blog from the Capital

Indiana's League of Women Voters has filed an amicus brief in a case challenging the state's new Voter ID law, which tightens the proof-of-identification requirement to vote. Writing at Alternet, Steven Rosenfeld refers to this dispute as the "most important election case since Bush v. Gore." There are many avenues of challenge involved in the suit; as it turns out, one is the potential restriction of religious freedom rights. The League's brief includes this:

Indiana provides for the issuance of photo-exempt identification cards and driver’s licenses for those whose religion prohibits them from being photographed. However, because this type of state identification lacks a photograph, a voter with a photo-exempt identification card or license fails to satisfy the Voter ID Law, from which she is not exempt. Such a voter must cast a provisional ballot and then, if the voter wants her vote counted, she must appear before the county election board and complete another affidavit stating that the voter objects to being photographed for religious reasons. All of this must be done by the voter during and after every election, despite having presented this same type of evidence to the BMV to satisfy the requirement to secure the photo-exempt identification or license in the first place.
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Thus those Amish and Mennonites who have photo-exempt identification cards and who seek to vote are improperly burdened because they must prove after every election that their religion prohibits them from being photographed. As with the indigency affidavit, there is no reason the affidavit regarding photo-exempt identification cannot be executed at the polling place on Election Day. Instead, those Amish and Mennonites who do not have mechanized transportation must make the trip to the county election board after each primary and general election. Moreover, Old Order Amish may be reluctant to take steps to assert their right to vote, such as appearing before the county election board or executing a sworn affidavit. Their value of “Gelassenheit,” roughly meaning calmness or composure, often translates into an unwillingness to use the legal system to protect their rights. The Mennonites have a similar reluctance to engage in formal legal disputes. This makes Amish and Mennonites unlikely candidates for vigorously defending their right to vote in the face of election officials who tell them that their state-issued identification is inadequate. (pp. 17-19)