One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

by Carol Anderson

Rokita and Indiana’s Republican legislators, therefore, set out to add a powerful barrier to the polls while, he said, “making sure we were balanced and honest in our approach to prove it was not politically motivated,” although every Democrat voted against the bill, Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 483, and every Republican supported it.51 The 2006 law required government-issued photo ID to vote; defined what types of identification were acceptable; offered to provide, at state expense, an identification card to those who could not afford it; and secured an off-ramp of a provisional ballot for those who did not have the ID at the time of the election but, in order to have their vote count, could supply the identification or an affidavit to the appropriate authorities within a limited number of days.52