The high cost of voter ID

March 7, 2012

The Commonwealth Institute reports that the new voter ID bills will cost Virginia taxpayers up to $1.2 million a year to implement. They state, "Senate and House of Delegates conferees will have to... face the fiscal reality that the new requirements are costly. According to recent analysis published by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, implementing the new voter ID requirements of either of the bills will cost between half a million to over a million dollars and involve significant public education efforts, staff training, and provisional ballot administration."

Voting is a fundamental freedom held dear by all Virginians regardless of for whom they vote. We should be focusing on bringing more Virginians into the democratic process, not excluding them from participation. Conservatives in Richmond have forgotten that they were elected to grow Virginia's economy, create jobs, and strengthen our Commonwealth.

Get the Facts:

• Via the Commonwealth Institute:
  
  
  • "The Institute's analysis examined voter ID laws in Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina, and put the cost for Virginia between $522,263 and $1,258,959."
  
  
  • "In a year of budget tightening and program cuts in other areas, the costs to the state represent significant tradeoffs. The cost of implementing these voter ID requirements is the rough equivalent of providing health care to between 396 and 954 Virginia children or providing support for an additional 109 to 262 Virginia children to attend high-quality pre-school."
• Kent Willis, the executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, called Sen. Martin's bill "a clear violation of voter rights," and "any kind of restrictions you impose on ID disproportionately affect the elderly, low-income residents and racial minorities." (CBS 6, January 10, 2012)


• At the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus's press conference on Wednesday, Sen. Yvonne Miller stated that the bill would take Virginia "back to the bad old days when there was a very small electorate, when only men could vote and only white men who owned property could vote." (Virginian-Pilot, January 11, 2012)


• Sen. Mamie Locke describes the bill as an "effort to suppress the vote," and Sen. Donald McEachin stated, "These are solutions looking for problems. There is no problem with voter fraud in Virginia." (Richmond Times Dispatch, January 11, 2012)

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