Vote-by-mail ID plan doesn't please Northwest lawmakers

MIKE MADDEN GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- Come November, voting by mail could mean photocopying your driver's license before sending in your ballot.

A fight over election legislation that some in the Northwest fear could undermine mail voting tied the U.S. Senate up for hours Wednesday, as lawmakers from Washington state and Oregon pushed to ensure that first-time voters won't need to show identification to prove who they are.

One section of the bill, written because of widespread alarm over problems with the 2000 election and intended to prevent fraud, would require first-time voters who registered by mail to present photo identification, a utility bill or a bank statement to election officials when they show up to cast their ballots. Many states, including Washington and Oregon, now simply require a signature, which officials check against registration records.

That could require mail-in voters to send copies of identification with their ballots, effectively making it more complicated for Northwest residents to vote.

Oregon conducts all elections by mail only, and Washington state allows anyone who wants to use mail ballots -- 69 percent in the most recent election -- to do so.

Turnout has soared since the shift to mail voting, with nearly 80 percent of registered voters casting a ballot in Oregon in 2000.

Lawmakers from states that allow voters to prove their identity with signatures only sponsored an amendment that would allow that practice to continue.

"Vote-by-mail is growing in popularity everywhere," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who sponsored the amendment along with New York Democrat Charles Schumer.

"Working families like it, seniors like it, and that's why it's being attacked," Wyden said.

Supporters of the amendment -- nearly all Democrats, though Oregon Republican Gordon Smith joined them -- defeated a procedural vote Wednesday that would have killed it.

But opponents, led by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said requiring ID was the only way to prevent massive fraud.

Missouri Republicans allege that people who registered under false names by mail and then did not have to show any proof of their identity on Election Day may have cast thousands of phony votes in St. Louis and Kansas City in 2000.

Northwest lawmakers said they were willing to bring down the entire bill if the signature provision was not adopted.

Other senators from states that allow signatures now, as well as civil rights groups that say the ID requirement discriminates against poor voters and new citizens, also called the amendment crucial.

"Making them have a photo ID or utility bill to enclose in their record would be an incredible burden," said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Negotiations to resolve the impasse continued all day Wednesday without reaching an agreement. Wyden said he was prepared to filibuster the whole bill if he had to.

"When you roll my state on matters that we feel strongly about, just know that we are not going quietly into the night," he said.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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