Bill to allow the use of student ID's as valid identification moving forward

Mar 05, 2013 at 05:00 am by bryan


State Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) will present legislation in the Senate State and Local Government 
Committee Wednesday (3/5/13) that would authorize the use of student photo IDs as acceptable identification for voting purposes.  Senate Bill 125 also clarifies that locally issued photo library cards are not allowed under Tennessee’s voter ID law.  
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“This legislation allows photo IDs issued by state community colleges and state universities as an acceptable form of identification,” said Senator Ketron.  “We allowed the use photo identification of faculty members of our state colleges and universities under the original Tennessee law which passed in 2011.  We believe that this state issued ID has worked as a sufficient form of identification and that students should also be included.”
 
Ketron said the legislation clears up any confusion regarding locally issued cards which he said were not supposed to be allowed under the original law passed in 2011.  This includes any library cards issued by local governments.
 
The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled last fall that library cards issued by the Memphis Library were an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes.  The court said that the 2011 law did not clearly spell out that locally issued photo identification cards were not allowed.  The state appealed that decision. 
 
“We considered locally issued cards when debating the original 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 Senator Ketron.  “We continue to believe that the safeguards are not in place to use these cards as acceptable identification for voting purposes.” 
 
“This is simply a bill to make it clear that the photo identification must be state or federally issued photo ID cards, and that students attending state universities can use their photo ID when voting,” he concluded.
 
Source:
TN General Assembly
 
SB 0125 by *Ketron. (HB 0229 by *Lynn.)

Election Laws - As introduced, allows any photo identification issued by state of Tennessee or United States to be used as evidence of identification for voting purposes; prohibits use of county or municipal identifications for voting purposes. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 7, Part 1.

Fiscal Summary

NOT SIGNIFICANT

Bill Summary

Under present law, the following may be used as evidence of identification for purposes of verifying a person's identification on an application for ballot:

(1) A Tennessee driver license;
(2) A valid identification card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of this state, any other state, or the United States authorized by law to issue personal identification; provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter; provided, however, that a photo identification card issued to a student by an institution of higher education may not be used;
(3) A valid photo identification license issued by the department of safety;
(4) A valid United States passport;
(5) A valid employee identification card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of this state, any other state, or the United States authorized by law to issue employee identification; provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter;
(6) A valid United States military identification card; provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter; or
(7) An employee identification card for retired state employees.

This bill rewrites (2) and (5) above as follows:

(2) A valid identification card issued by the state, or the United States, where authorized by law to issue personal identification; provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter; and
(5) A valid employee identification card issued by the state, or the United States, where authorized by law to issue employee identification; provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter.

This bill also specifies that a photo identification card issued by a county or municipality or entity thereof, including a public library, will not be evidence of identification for purposes of verifying the person's identification on the application for ballot.

 
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