Naomi Tacuyan / 202-223-9170
To Governor Purdue:
As a concerned Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) national organization, we urge you to veto Senate Bill 86, which would require voters to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
APIAVote is a national nonpartisan organization that encourages and promotes civic participation of Asian Pacific Islander Americans in the electoral and public policy processes at the national, state and local levels. We have coalition and community-based partners in 14 states, and have conducted voter mobilization work in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 midterm and presidential elections.
APIAVote and our partners believe that SB 86 is detrimental to voter turnout and ultimately disenfranchises immigrant, minority, low-income, low-education, student, women, and elderly voters. We also believe that a voter identification requirement is a mismatched and inadequate policy to address largely unfounded allegations of voter fraud. Voter fraud in the form of impersonation at the polls has not even been proven to occur in the organized manner some proponents of voter identification want the public to believe.
The voter identification requirement is a primary obstacle for many U.S. citizens to rightfully exercise the right to vote. It has been found that states with voter ID laws experienced reduced turnout rates of 3% overall in the 2008 elections, with even further reduced rates among minorities.
In addition to voter identification requirements reducing voter participation, equally important points to consider are the following:
· Widespread lack of photo identification: Eleven percent of Americans surveyed by the Brennan Center for Justice do not have government-issued photo ID, such as driver’s licenses or state-issued non-driver’s photo ID. According to U.S. Census data, that amounts to greater than 21 million citizens. Those without photo ID are disproportionately the elderly, students, women, people with disabilities, low income people and people of color. According to disability advocates, nearly 4 million of the 40 million Americans with disabilities do not have state-issued photo ID.
· A voter is likely to be turned away at the polls if their ID card does not have their current address. According to the U.S. Census, Americans have an annual mobility rate of 14%. Even among those citizens who do have photo IDs, a substantial percentage does not show their current address. African Americans and Hispanics have a rate of 18%. Those with incomes below the poverty level are almost twice as likely to move as those with incomes above the poverty level.
· Voter ID requirements place an inordinate amount of discretion in the hands of undertrained and overworked poll workers: State election systems are underfunded, and do not have the resources to adequately train poll workers. Furthermore, even under the more lenient requirements of the Help America Vote Act, ID provisions are often implemented in a discriminatory way. According to the nation’s largest nonpartisan exit poll of Asian Americans, nearly 70% of Asian voters were asked for ID at the polls - in states where no ID was required. In New York City, where there is no ID requirement, a study showed that 1 in 6 Asian Americans were asked for ID, while white Americans in the same study were not asked for ID. Further, in an exit poll of Asian American voters in Houston, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) “found that identification checks were inappropriately or excessively required of only Asian American voters,” when proof of identification was not even required.
In closing, legislation that requires voter identification adds a dangerous layer to the barriers already facing disenfranchised voters, many of them who are minority and AAPI voters. We believe in the democratic political process, and believe that America is made stronger if all can participate. We hope you agree that ensuring full and equal access to the polling place for all voters is fundamental to our democracy. For this reason, we urge you to veto Senate Bill 86.
We welcome open and constructive discussion about SB 86; if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at vidab@apiavote.org, or at 202.223.9170, or APIAVote’s board chair, EunSook Lee at elee@apiavote.org.
Sincerely,
Vida Benavides
APIAVote Executive Director
