Crawford: What It All Means

By Michael Waldman – 04/30/08

The Supreme Court issued a ruling in the most important voting case since Bush v. Gore.  In Crawford v. Marion County, the Justices upheld Indiana's law requiring a government-issued photo ID as a condition of voting.  (The Brennan Center coordinated the amicus briefs in opposition to the law.)

We're  analyzing the decision and the road ahead, but here are a few things we know.  The Court accepted our argument that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.  Unfortunately, the Justices ruled that even though the Indiana law could disenfranchise real voters ... and even though there was no proof of voter fraud in the state ... the plaintiffs had not proven that Indiana violated the Constitution by imposing these rules.  It left open the door for further challenges to laws where plaintiffs could prove injury.

What will this all mean?

First, we do expect that there will be a major push in state legislatures and Congress to pass very restrictive voter ID laws, this year or next.  Whatever the merits or demerits of voter ID in theory, these proposals invariably are crafted to impact the poor, minorities, the elderly and others who simply lack the required photo ID.  We are working with advocates to make sure they have our research on the impact of ID proposals.

Second, we are moving to strike down other barriers to voting and fair elections.  Coincidentally, the day after the Crawford opinion came down,  we filed a we filed a federal lawsuit to strike down Florida's restrictions on voter registration groups.  (The suit was filed on behalf of the Florida League of Women Voters.) The restrictions are so severe the League—hardly a radical fringe group!—has been forced to shut down its registration activities.  Our board chair, James Johnson, is co-counseling the case with us.

Ultimately, it would be a huge missed opportunity to simply focus on stopping bad laws. We see a thrilling surge of citizen engagement and participation in this election.  This should be the time to craft new voter registration laws to make sure that every citizen who wants to vote, can vote.  In the coming weeks we will be putting forward a draft proposal for universal voter registration, including Election Day Registration, for Congress and others to consider.

We're eager to hear your thoughts, so please let us know if we can answer any questions on these or other issues.

 

Best regards,

Michael Waldman
Executive Director