By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Hamilton County’s election administrator on Wednesday said she is now accepting student IDs at the polls as a result of a federal court order.
Sheller
Beth Sheller said the Indiana Election Division issued formal guidance around midday that county election officials accept student IDs once again.
State lawmakers last year passed legislation that prohibits using a student ID to vote, but a federal judge late Tuesday issued an order blocking the law pending further review. Judge Richard Young wrote there is a strong chance the law violates the First and Fourteenth amendments. In his order, Young noted college students were far less likely to possess another form of approved ID, such as a driver’s license, than the average voter.
“Because SB 10 likely imposes a moderate burden on the right to vote, the court must evaluate the extent to which Defendants’ interest in protecting public confidence makes it necessary to eliminate student IDs as a valid form of photo identification,” Young said. “Without more evidence, the court cannot conclude that SB 10 is necessary to protect public confidence in Indiana’s elections.”
Sheller said any student ID used to vote still must show the person’s name and photograph and must display an expiration date. In addition, the ID must be issued by the state of Indiana.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, a Democrat whose district includes the IU Bloomington campus, said the state-issue requirement means an ID issued by a state institution such as IU or Purdue is acceptable, but an ID from a private college is not.
“If you attend a private college like Wabash or a private university like Notre Dame, you wouldn’t be able to use that ID,” Pierce said. “Because [state universities] are state-supported institutions, they qualify as a state governmental entity.”
Besides student IDs, acceptable forms of ID include an Indiana driver’s license, a passport or military ID, or a state-issued non-driver voter identification card. Those can be obtained for free through the BMV, though anyone applying for one still has to provide one document proving your identity, usually a birth certificate, one document with your full Social Security number and two documents proving Indiana residency, such as a pay stub or a utility bill.
Early voting runs through noon on May 4. Primary Election Day is on May 5.
Sheller said she does not expect further changes to the student ID requirement before the primary is over. She said anyone voting should check their ID before they go to the polls to make sure it has not expired.
Voters should also check their assigned polling location. Twenty counties in Indiana, including Hamilton and Monroe counties, do not use vote centers.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/election/indiana-polls-accept-student-ids-following-federal-judges-order.
More information on the injunction
The REPORTER
On Tuesday, April 14, Richard L. Young, a federal judge in the U.S. Southern District of Indiana, ordered an injunction in the case of Count US IN et al. v. Diego Morales et al.
In that case, plaintiffs argued that Indiana Senate Bill 10 violated college students’ voting rights by disallowing the use of college and university student IDs in order to vote.
Judge Young’s injunction means that polling places and election offices will, for now, accept student IDs from public colleges and universities.
Click here to read the entry for the injunction, and click here to read the injunction as ordered by Judge Young.
