Newman amendment would ease voting ID requirements for students

The politically charged voter identification bill passed by the state Senate this week was amended on the floor at the request of Sen. Steve Newman to make it easier for students at private colleges to vote.

Newman, R-Lynchburg, asked for the list of approved voter identification to be expanded to include any valid student ID issued by a four-year college, public or private, in Virginia.

Current state law only allows election officials to accept public university IDs, because state institutions issue them. Private university IDs did not make the grade.

Under SB1, voters who do not present valid ID at the polls will be required to cast a provisional ballot and submit proper identification later to ensure their vote is counted. This has ignited a contentious debate in Richmond, with Democrats arguing it will suppress the vote of minorities, the elderly and poor.

Republicans say the measure is necessary to combat voter fraud. The bill deadlocked the Senate along party lines, and required Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s tie-breaking vote to pass.

Valid forms of voter ID currently include a Virginia driver’s license, voter registration card, social security card, government-issued ID or employee ID with photo. SB1 would expand that to certain documents, like utility bills and paychecks that contain the voter’s name and address.

Newman’s amendment — adding private college IDs to the list — would help students at Liberty University and other Lynchburg colleges avoid the hassle of the provisional ballot system.

“This simply puts private four-year colleges on the same bar with a utility bill,” Newman said, adding if phone bills and state university IDs were going to be accepted, private school IDs should be as well.

Student voter identification has been a reoccurring point of discussion in Lynchburg. Local election officials allowed LU students to use their school IDs to vote, but discovered late last year it was not permitted.

“We had not made that distinction (between public and private colleges) up until then,” said Lynchburg registrar Carolyn Sherayko. “Afterward, I talked to several other registrars who have large student populations and they said, oh yes, it’s a real problem. Because you have to treat them differently, even though they’re all college students, based on what type of college they attend.”

Under current law, an ID from Central Virginia Community College would be acceptable, but not from LU, Randolph College or Lynchburg College.

Starting with next month’s presidential primary, Sherayko said Lynchburg officials would no longer accept student IDs from those colleges.

The provision introduced by Newman is not final — the House of Delegates passed a different version of the voter identification bill. And if it does pass, it will not be in effect by then.

Wendell Walker, a local Republican political activist, said he was disturbed when he learned about the law’s inconsistent treatment of public and private schools, and broached the subject with Del. Kathy Byron shortly after the General Assembly session began.

Walker said his first thought about the law’s uneven approach was it seemed “a little bit on the discrimination side.”

“What is the rationale for it?” he asked. “If you can accept a UVa or Virginia Tech ID for voting, why can’t you accept Liberty? It’s got a picture of the student on it and all the other official university stuff … That was my major concern. I was interested in trying to get it more consistent.”

Walker said it seemed best to make voting a “little easier,” not only for students but for election officials, who might be inundated with paperwork on Election Day. He said he did not discuss the issue with Newman or suggest an amendment to SB1, but was pleased action taken.

“When you tell somebody that their ID is not sufficient, when they’re a registered voter, that's kind of throwing it in their face,” he said. “’No, you’ve got to go through another step.’ Democrats would be raising all kind of heck out here if they had to do something like that. So let’s keep the process honest and simple and straightforward, and agree these IDs will be accepted.”

The registrar’s office has notified LU about the change it will be making in local voting procedures this year. Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said they’ve already started informing students through hall meetings.

Falwell said he felt the state’s current voting laws make a “meaningless” distinction between public and private schools, but added LU was generally satisfied with how the law worked at present.

Currently, voters who do not have ID are allowed to vote if they sign an affidavit swearing, under penalty of law, they are who they say they are.

If that is changed to require students to cast provisional ballots instead, Falwell said he would find it very concerning.

“We would be strongly opposed to any legislation that removed both private student IDs and the affidavit option,” he said. “If both of those were gone, I think you would have the equivalent of an impediment to voting.”

“I don’t even know if it would be legal. It sounds like the Jim Crow days to me, except for student voters instead of minorities … I would smell a rat if that happened.”

Falwell added he had not been following the debate about SB1, and had not asked Newman to seek an amendment.

Sanctioning the use of student IDs for voting purposes “makes sense,” he added, as it would be simpler for all parties involved.

LU students always carry their IDs with them, Falwell said, but only a fraction of them probably have a Virginia driver’s license.

“I think it would be wise (to eliminate the public-private distinction),” he said. “It will make things a little easier and, I think, make things a little more fair.”

Staff writer Ray Reed contributed to this report.