BREAKING: KY PASSES NEW PHOTO ID LAW FOR VOTING.

KY House voted to override Gov’s veto of SB 2, photo ID bill for voting.

Barring court order, voters must show a photo ID for the November election. (It is NOT in effect for June primary.)

Cue litigation. 1/

The law requires voters to show KY-issued photo ID, fed gov’t issued photo ID, or know poll worker. If latter, poll workers must sign affidavit saying they know voter’s identity and residence in precinct.

Student IDs (any state) will count.

IDs don't need expiration date. 2/

If a voter shows up to polls without photo ID (and poll worker doesn't know them) but has non-photo ID like social security card or credit card, they can fill out “reasonable impediment” affidavit saying why they don’t have a photo ID and can then vote via regular ballot. 3/

Absentee voters must provide photocopy of their ID or fill out the reasonable impediment form. But it is not clear under the law that “fears of contracting COVID” will count. Law used to have a “catch-all” on the form (at my request) but it was stripped at last minute. 4/

The law is a lot better than when first introduced. Bill sponsors made concessions to make the law more reasonable. I was proud to have a hand in those negotiations.

But there is still no need for this law. It solves no problem and will harm voters. 5/

The added concessions include elimination of a requirement that IDs have an expiration date (expired IDs will now count), and ability of voters to use reasonable impediment form and cast regular ballot at polls if they don't have photo ID. That's good. 6/

But state should have kept in "catch-all" on the reasonable impediment form so a voter could use it if they have another reason not on the form for not having a photo ID, like fear of COVID.

It also should have delayed implementation to 2021. 7/

It is going to be extremely difficult for state to educate voters, educate poll workers, and ensure everyone has a photo ID in a few months. Some voters will likely be disenfranchised--for no good reason as there is NO in-person voter fraud in KY elections. 8/

There will surely be litigation over this law, especially for implementation this Nov. The battle is still not over. @KYSecState said he wanted to avoid state being enmeshed in litigation. That's unlikely given legis took out catch-all and pushed this forward for November. 9/

Courts in other states have delayed implementation of photo ID laws passed in an election year. And that wasn't during a pandemic! So there is good case law to delay KY's law. But, of course, we will see. 10/

In the end, new photo ID law for voting was inevitable given the politics. And again, the law is better than it might have been. But it's still unnecessary, and even more so during a global pandemic. 11/

We should make it easier, not harder, to vote. I hope @KYSecState follows through on his promise to make it easier to vote--this year and beyond.

/end