GOP legislators push student ID to vote

College cards would be valid; library cards not

NASHVILLE — A pair of Republican state legislators have filed a bill to allow student photo identification cards issued by state universities and colleges to comply with Tennessee’s voter photo ID law — and to explicitly prohibit photo IDs issued by public libraries and other local agencies and governments.

The bill, to be presented in a Senate committee Tuesday, would block use of the Memphis public library system cards issued last year. That initiative was Mayor A C Wharton’s response to the state voter photo ID requirement that city officials argued would disenfranchise voters without driver’s licenses or other photo IDs specified by the state legislature in 2011. After the state told the Shelby County Election Commission last year to refuse the library cards, the city of Memphis and two Memphis residents filed suit against state officials.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the library cards as valid for voting in last year’s elections.

The court held that the 2011 law was unclear on whether it banned public library ID cards because the law allowed “a valid identification card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of this state ... .” The city argued that it is an “entity of this state.” Memphis was the only city that attempted to issue local photo IDs for voting.

The case has been argued before the Tennessee Supreme Court, which is expected to issue a ruling by summer.

“We considered locally issued cards when debating the original (2011) bill but after reviewing the process, decided that the safeguards were not in place to ensure the integrity of the ballot like state and federally issued identification,” said Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Lebanon. “We continue to believe that the safeguards are not in place to use these cards as acceptable identification for voting purposes.”

The bill is also a reversal on the legislature’s decision in 2011 to explicitly ban the use of student ID cards issued by both public and private colleges and universities, even while accepting IDs issued to faculty and other employees at state institutions that are often produced on the same devices as the student cards. Democrats argued that it was an attempt to suppress voting by a group that leans Democratic.

“This legislation allows photo IDs issued by state community colleges and state universities. ... We allowed the use of photo identification of faculty members of our state colleges and universities under the original law. We believe that this stateissued ID has worked as a sufficient form of identification and that students should also be included,” Ketron said.

But Ketron’s Senate Bill 125 would still not allow photo IDs issued by private institutions to be acceptable for voting purposes.