VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL - Re: Comment on Proposed Permanent Rules on Voter Photo Identification

After the voter has completed the Form and assuming the voter is otherwise eligible to vote, “the county board of elections shall find that the provisional ballot is valid unless the county board has grounds to believe the affidavit is false.” N. [...] The proposed amendments requiring the County Board to include the “specific reasons the county board is considering the affidavit to be potentially false” and limiting Boards from issuing notices unless they have “identified a reason to find that the affidavit. [...] 0109(c)(2) stating that the voter should receive notice and opportunity to be heard “provided there is sufficient time remaining before the county canvass to send a notice that will be delivered in advance of the opportunity to address the county board” is a move in the wrong direction. [...] In response to a majority of voters who did not return to the County Boards with photo ID to have their provisional ballots approved, the rules must direct Boards to provide these voters with notice of potential disenfranchisement and the opportunity to receive a free voter photo ID at the Elections Office before county canvass. [...] 824 is substantially mitigated by the law’s three ameliorative provisions—free IDs; the broad exceptions to the requirement to present ID, including relying upon a reasonable impediment; and the ability for voters to cure their lack of qualifying ID by casting a provisional ballot and returning to the county board with their ID.