Do I Need An ID To Vote? It Depends What State You Live In

The Washington Post has this handy chart to tell you if you need identification to vote, and what kind you might need: (click to enlarge)

Voter ID

 

Given all the press coverage the issue has received, I was somewhat surprised to see that the number of states where identification is a voting requirement is relatively small, although the jurisdictions where you can be asked for it but not prevented from voting is larger. What constitutes proper identification does vary from state to state, though, so one should check with the appropriate local office to ensure you have the right identification before going to the polls.

FILED UNDER: 2014 Election, US Politics, ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. michael reynolds says:

    ID is required in states that have a long tradition of suppressing African-American votes. Surprise, surprise.

  2. PD Shaw says:

    I think it’s more complicated than that list. At least in Illinois, which is considered an anti-i.d. state, you can be required to present an i.d. in two circumstances: (a) new voter who registered by mail, and (b) the judges challenge identity based upon a mismatch signature or other discrepancy. And then two forms of i.d. would be required, but if you don’t have them, a provisional ballot can be cast and the prove-up can be later.

  3. J-Dub says:

    Why is Maryland and Virginia in the South but DC is in the Northeast?

    As a Marylander, I would consider our state to be in the Northeast. Although we are below the Mason-Dixon line, Maryland is culturally more Northeastern.

  4. Paul L. says:

    Intellectual titan Abortion Barbie on the Daily Show.
    You can use a gun permit as ID to vote but not a College ID.

    Maybe because a gun permit is issued by the Government.

  5. JKB says:

    @michael reynolds:

    ID not required in states that have a long history of Democrat vote fraud. Surprise, surprise

    @Paul L.:

    Maybe because to get a gun permit they do a background check that requires identity and residency verification.

    To get a college ID, you just have to be enrolled in the college, and that includes students who are not residents of the state or even US citizens. Hmm? Abortion Barbie sure doesn’t seem to be up on her facts.

  6. John Cole says:

    Just going to throw this out there- anyone who uses the phrase abortion barbie is just an asshole.

  7. Davebo says:

    @John Cole:

    It does remind me of the great Carlin line.

    “Did you ever notice that women who are opposed to abortion are mostly women you would never wanna f#ck in the first place?”

  8. Paul L. says:

    @John Cole:
    The people at Balloon Juice have called Sarah Palin every nasty name under the sun.
    Snowbilly, Caribou Barbie Honey Boo Boo of politics
    So spare me your one sided calls for civility.
    @Davebo:
    As opposed to the mind blowing hotness of abortion champions Amanda Marcotte and the babes at rhrealitycheck.

  9. michael reynolds says:

    @JKB:

    That is a lie.

  10. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    @John Cole: Just going to throw this out there- anyone who uses the phrase abortion barbie is just an asshole.

    If you extend that thought to calling Sarah Palin “Caribou Barbie,” here are about 912 assholes you need to speak to.

    And look who’s saying it here:

    Apparently, half term Governor Caribou Barbie turned up on Fox news and delivered a classic Palinesque melange of word salad:

    Do you denounce yourself, sir?

  11. al-Ameda says:

    @JKB:

    ID not required in states that have a long history of Democrat vote fraud. Surprise, surprise

    Except for the statistical fact that in-person voter fraud is nearly negligible, you nearly made a point.

  12. al-Ameda says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    If you extend that thought to calling Sarah Palin “Caribou Barbie,” here are about 912 assholes you need to speak to.

    Excellent point: “caribou” has the same social connotation as “abortion.”

  13. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    @al-Ameda: So, it’s the prefix you object to, and not to the objectifying “Barbie” comparison?

    As far as the “abortion” thing goes, it’s pretty much the only reason she ever got any national attention. And even then, she managed to slow down the bill for a few hours.

    Besides, aren’t you on the side that argues that “abortion” shouldn’t have any kind of stigma on it? So what’s the big deal?

  14. Paul L. says:

    Excellent point: “caribou” has the same social connotation as “abortion.”

    Hunting has the same social connotation as “abortion’ with progressives. as shown by the popular National conversation on Guns promoted by the Democrats in the 2014 elections.that will enable them to take control of Congress..
    So you and John Cole have no problem with calling Wendy Davis Pro-choice Barbie?

  15. wr says:

    Man, it’s amusing to see how terrified the right wing trolls here are of any woman who dares to speak her mind. And the desperate need to come up with an offensive name to dismiss them with, as if somehow that will prove that these manly he-men really are smarter and tougher than those arrogant broads.

    It’s like gamergate, except our trolls aren’t smart enough to figure out how to turn on a game console.

  16. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    @wr: Man, it’s amusing to see how terrified the right wing trolls here are of any woman who dares to speak her mind.

    I’m still waiting for abortion pro-choice Barbie to demonstrate she has a mind.

    And I, personally, like women who speak their mind. Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Condoleezza Rice, Margaret Thatcher…

    Of course, these are women who made it on their own, without riding on the coattails of men. Funny how many leading liberal women fit that mold: Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Theresa Heinz Kerry, abortion pro-choice Barbie…

  17. al-Ameda says:

    @Paul L.:

    Hunting has the same social connotation as “abortion’ with progressives. as shown by the popular

    No, it doesn’t. There, you’re welcome.

  18. al-Ameda says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    So, it’s the prefix you object to, and not to the objectifying “Barbie” comparison?

    “Objectifying”? In what way? Are you referring to “Barbie’s wardrobe?”
    “Barbie” is used to denote someone as an airhead. Palin may or may not be an airhead, but that is hardly an aspersion that outrages people in the same way that “abortion” does. “Abortion” is GOP dog whistle code for “babykiller,” so “Abortion Barbie” is a long way from “Caribou Barbie” which, as you probably know, is not intended to suggest that Palin has the mind of a Caribou.

    Besides, aren’t you on the side that argues that “abortion” shouldn’t have any kind of stigma on it? So what’s the big deal?

    I do not stigmatize women who want to control their reproductive healthcare decisions, unfortunately, that is the work of Republicans.

  19. Grewgills says:

    @al-Ameda:

    “Objectifying”? In what way? Are you referring to “Barbie’s wardrobe?”
    “Barbie” is used to denote someone as an airhead.

    Barbie is used as an epithet to not only say a woman is an air head or bimbo, but that her only value is in her appearance. Whatever else people say about Palin and Davis, they seem to find both physically attractive. Calling them _____ Barbie is to demean them by saying that physical attractiveness is all they bring to the table. Palin does seem to be a vapid opportunist, but calling her caribou barbie is indeed quite literally objectifying her*. The liberals and particularly feminists should be ashamed if they used the term. That doesn’t make using the term abortion barbie any less abhorrent or the people who use it any less dickish though.

    * Comparing her to a child’s toy that in our society has strong sexual overtones cannot reasonably be called anything else. That a children’s toy has such strong sexual overtones is more than a little disturbing in itself.

  20. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    @John Cole: I think, in the future, I’ll call you “Balloon-Juice Barbie.” That work for you?

  21. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    Here’s the real question: will non-citizens be required to show ID before they vote? Or does the fact that 80% of non-citizens who vote illegally vote Democratic trump the law?

  22. JKB says:

    @al-Ameda:

    Where you getting your statistics? Cracker Jacks box?

    How many non-citizens participate in U.S. elections? More than 14 percent of non-citizens in both the 2008 and 2010 samples indicated that they were registered to vote. Furthermore, some of these non-citizens voted. Our best guess, based upon extrapolations from the portion of the sample with a verified vote, is that 6.4 percent of non-citizens voted in 2008 and 2.2 percent of non-citizens voted in 2010.

  23. JKB says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    As the WP article points out, voter id doesn’t have much of an impact on non-citizen voting. And in January it will be moot anyway when California moves to providing drivers licenses without verifying ID or legal status.

    The thing to note is that even with rampant Democrat voter fraud, they still can barely muster enough votes to win. That says a lot. Although, they do win enough to destroy the country.

  24. David M says:

    @JKB:

    And their best guess about non-citizens voting isn’t worth anything, not that it matters to the wingnut trolls here.

  25. beth says:

    @David M: Don’t waste your time. He keeps posting nonsense links that are easily debunked but never learns. He wants to believe the lies he spews because it validates what he wants to believe.

  26. Blue Galangal says:

    @PD Shaw: Agreed. And also complicated: what “voting” consists of if you don’t provide acceptable ID. For a time, in Ohio, provisional ballots weren’t counted unless the gap between candidates was smaller than the number of provisional ballots, and which provisional ballots were counted were decided by boards of elections, with ties broken by the (Republican) Secretary of State; they were not counted as votes, per se, from the get go. So getting to fill out a provisional ballot is not the same as voting, but I guess you go away happy thinking you “voted.”

    Of course, Ohio has been ground zero for shenanigans at the provisional ballot box, and they’re still trying to discount as many provisional ballots as possible. (http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/02/19/gop-bill-alters-rules-for-provisional-ballots.html)

  27. Paul L. says:

    @al-Ameda:

    hardly an aspersion that outrages people in the same way that “abortion” does. “Abortion” is GOP dog whistle code for “babykiller,

    OMFG someone better tell NARAL Pro-Choice America

    The organization was formerly known as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, then the National Abortion Rights Action League, and later the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

  28. al-Ameda says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13:

    Here’s the real question: will non-citizens be required to show ID before they vote? Or does the fact that 80% of non-citizens who vote illegally vote Democratic trump the law?

    The real question is, did they have to provide ID when they registered to vote?
    Why aren’t Republicans interested in suppressing the Absentee Vote?
    We know why, traditionally those have been Republican votes.

  29. al-Ameda says:

    @JKB:
    Did you read the article and look at those numbers?
    That is hardly conclusive based on their own conclusions.
    For 2010 data – 55,400 observations, 489 non-citizen respondents, and the authors find that 2.2 % of non citizens voted. Then 2.2% of 489 non-citizen respondents = 11 actual voters among the non-citizens.

  30. John425 says:

    The pro-amnesty Hispanic activist organization the National Council of La Raza helpfully promoted the Washington Post article explaining which states people can vote in without having to use a photo ID.

    “Voter ID laws are at-issue across the country, with newly Republican-controlled legislatures having passed them in numerous states after the 2010 election,” explained The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake. “Most states still request some form of ID, but don’t require it. Another 20 states don’t require identification. In case you’re wondering where your state is at in all of this, a helpful (sic) graphic from the Post’s graphics team.”

    So who ended up using the Post’s helpful graphic? The country’s foremost pro-amnesty Hispanic immigrant organization.

    The Chicago chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice tweeted Blake’s article with the message, “Reminder — #Illinois does NOT require #voterID to cast a ballot,” along with the pro-Democrat hashtag #TurnOutForWhat. The tweet was helpfully retweeted by the National Council of La Raza.

  31. Grewgills says:

    @JKB:

    As the WP article points out, voter id doesn’t have much of an impact on non-citizen voting.

    So, even if we accept the characterization of the study by the WP (I don’t btw), your (or the Republican’s) favored method of combating the minuscule problem doesn’t even address it. How on earth is that a rational response to the supposed problem?

  32. beth says:

    @John425: So Hispanic citizens shouldn’t be allowed or encouraged to vote? What other kinds of citizens do you think shouldn’t be encouraged to vote? Not quite sure what point you’re trying to make here.

  33. Grewgills says:

    @beth:
    Asians and Hispanics are obviously non-citizens and probably here illegally, so letting them know which states don’t have ID laws (that wouldn’t stop aliens with driver’s licences anyway) will let them know where to cast all of their illegal votes to stop the righteous and forthright Republicans, dirty miscreants that they are.

  34. John425 says:

    @beth: Well, Beth: Both organizations, particularly La Raza, don’t recognize such niceties as borders and citizen voters.

  35. beth says:

    @John425: And that would be based on, what? The voices in your head?

  36. Just 'nutha' ig'rant cracker says:

    @wr: Now THAT was mean! Thumbs up!

  37. Just 'nutha' ig'rant cracker says:

    @Jenos Idanian #13: I suspect that NO ONE cares about what you call ANYONE, they just consider the source and write it off.

    And you can call me “Crackerhead Barbie” if i makes you feel better about yourself. Go ahead.

  38. James Joyner says:

    @michael reynolds: I was befuddled to have to show my ID to vote when I moved to Virginia, since I was pretty sure it was illegal. Yet, I’d never had that request made of me in Alabama. A dozen years later, Virginia still requires ID and Alabama still doesn’t.

  39. Jenos Idanian #13 says:

    BTW, in Maryland, an election watchdog group compared how people filled out jury duty questionnaires and voter enrollment forms, and found thousands of people who were NOT citizens on the jury duty forms, but WERE citizens on the voter enrollment forms. So they’re committing perjury on one of those two.