BOISE, Idaho — A Stanley Republican running to be Idaho’s top election official wants to eliminate Election Day registration and require proof of citizenship to vote.
State Rep. Dorothy Moon introduced the legislation during a House State Affairs Committee meeting on Monday.
“The Secure Election Act tackles the hard problems embedded in Idaho’s election law,” Moon told the committee. “None of us want to see illegal votes nullify legal votes. That’s a very important concept, making sure that we have good election law in this state.”
The bill would strike from Idaho code language that allows citizens to register to vote on Election Day. Instead, non-registered voters would have to register 30 days before an election, although “late registration” would be available in-person at a county clerk’s office through the Friday before election day.
Moon did not mention the elimination of same-day voter registration during her committee presentation Monday. In a video statement, published after the bill was introduced, Moon said that “same-day voter registration is a policy crafted by liberal interest groups that has led to increased fraud and ballot manipulation.”
She did not offer any evidence that same-day voter registration — which was implemented in 1994 in Idaho — has led to fraud and manipulation. At the time the law was implemented, Idaho had a Democratic governor but a Republican majority in both the House and Senate.
The bill would also eliminate the option for students to use a school ID card as identification on Election Day.
A Meridian Republican, Sen. Regina Bayer, is a co-sponsor of the bill.
“Our democratic republic depends on the right of all eligible citizens to vote in free and fair elections,” Bayer said in a news release. “Idaho’s election system ranks 37 out of 50 states for its integrity. The Secure Election Act will fix that, ensuring that Idaho protects the right of every eligible citizen’s vote and for that vote to be counted.”
Moon and Bayer’s bill would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in Idaho elections. While Idaho residents must be U.S. citizens to vote, they currently don’t need to show proof of citizenship when they register.
Idaho residents can register to vote by providing an Idaho identification card or the last four digits of their social security number and by swearing that they are U.S. citizens under penalty of perjury.
A noncitizen who registers or votes could face deportation, incarceration or fines. They also risk being denied naturalization if they have a voting record. Falsely claiming eligibility to vote is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Proof of U.S. citizenship under the bill would require naturalization documents, a tribal ID card, a U.S. birth certificate or passport.
Not all U.S. citizens have one of those documents. According to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive policy institution, millions of U.S. citizens —between 5% and 7% — don’t have a passport or birth certificate.
Idaho’s drivers license currently would not be enough to show proof of U.S. citizenship, though one bill introduced this session aims to change that.
Moon’s bill would create a new law that nullifies ballots by voters who don’t provide acceptable identification when they vote and don’t verify their identification in little more than a week.
Those ballots would be provisional and set aside until the voters provide identification to their county clerk within 10 days of the election.
“Any provisional ballot cast but not authenticated by the voter with proper identification shall be marked as a spoiled ballot and shall not be included in the canvas of votes,” the bill says.
Moon has made a number of public statements in recent months that cast doubt on the validity of Idaho elections. She did not respond to a request from the Idaho Statesman last week to provide proof of three different claims she made of election fraud in the state.
During Monday’s committee hearing, Rep. Chris Mathias, a Boise Democrat, asked whether Moon could provide an example of an existing problem the bill seeks to address.
“I cannot give you any example, personally,” Moon said, but she pointed to a case of election fraud in Washington state. The Statesman was unable to independently confirm that case.
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