LAS VEGAS SUN: Nevadans deserve inclusive voting system
BY LAUREN KUNIS AND JACOB SOLIS — NOVEMBER 3, 2024
Across the country, anti-democracy groups and politicians are rolling back access to voting for Americans. This affects eligible voters on both sides of the aisle and our shared democracy.
Since the last presidential election in 2020, 18 states have passed new or stricter voter ID laws. As a result, millions of voters will head to the polls Tuesday without the correct information or identification needed to cast a ballot.
So far, Nevadans have avoided the tsunami of new, unnecessary and disenfranchising voter ID laws that have swept the nation lately. However, Question 7 may change all that and put Nevada down a pathway of restricting voting access for eligible voters seeking to make their voices heard.
Question 7 is a proposal to amend the Nevada Constitution to require a photo ID to vote. Like the other states that do not have a voter ID law in place, Nevada voters already provide identifying information and attest to their voting eligibility — including citizenship status — when they register to vote. And this process is working. Elections are secure, accurate, and well-administered, year after year. But this unnecessary new law would create barriers that silence important voices and undermine safe elections and fair representation.
So, if voter ID laws aren’t making it easier for voters, then what are they really about? The push for Question 7 is part of a nationwide and well-funded effort to block access to the ballot box. Instead of improving the accessibility of our elections, voter ID laws make it harder, more costly and more confusing for eligible Americans to exercise their freedom to vote.
Just this year, the University of Maryland, the Brennan Center for Justice and VoteRiders released new data that highlights the far-reaching impact of voter ID laws, demonstrating that a significant number of Americans lack the specific form of ID that is increasingly needed to vote.
Over 34.5 million voting-age Americans either do not have a driver’s license or state ID, or lack one with their current name and address on it. That is nearly 15% of our eligible electorate. Furthermore, the research found that citizens of color were 3.7 times more likely to be without an unexpired license or state ID card than white adult citizens, meaning nonwhite voters are disproportionately harmed by voter ID laws.
