Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Photo ID law coming to Kentucky while virus shuts many issuing offices

Kentucky statehouse
DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images

At a time when primary turnout is already taking a hit from the coronavirus, a new photo ID requirement in Kentucky looms as another deterrent from the polls this year.

Legislation cleared Thursday by the General Assembly would require would-be voters show a driver's license or other government-issued identification with a photo. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has signaled he opposes the bill, but his veto would have minimal effect because the House and Senate are solidly Republican and have the power to override him by simple majority.

The bill was already viewed as adding Kentucky to the roster of states with the toughest voter ID requirements. Critics now lament the measure could suppress the vote further because of the public health emergency, which has closed or curtailed office hours at many of the government offices that issue ID cards.


Text of the measure, finalized in negotiations just as lawmakers prepared to leave Frankfurt until early April to minimize their Covid-19 exposure, is not yet available to the public. So it's unclear if the photo ID requirement will take effect for the primaries now set for June 23, a month's delay because of the pandemic. Congressional, state legislative, judicial and big city contests are on the ballot along with the two remaining in the Democratic presidential contest.

Kentuckians are now asked to show identification, no photo required, before casting a ballot. Thirty-five states will have some form of voter ID law in effect for November. If Kentucky's law is changed, it would be the eighth state with a similarly strict photo ID law.

Republicans generally praise voter ID laws as a way to safeguard elections from fraud, although there have been no such incidents reported in Kentucky in recent years. Democrats and voting rights advocates say the consequence of strict ID rules is the disenfranchisement of people who are poor, have disabilities, are elderly or come from minority groups.

Before deciding to postpone the end of their annual session, and limit it to the annual budget, lawmakers this week advanced but then abandoned legislation that would require counties to replace their old voting machines with more secure ones. The bill would not have provided any state money to pay for it, though. Kentucky is one of only eight states in the country that still has some voting machines that don't create a paper trail, which is the new standard for conducting the most reliable elections.

While Kentucky will soon receive $6.4 million in federal funds to address election security, it won't be enough to cover a statewide equipment update. State election officials estimate replacing voting machines in all 120 counties will cost $80 million.

Read More

Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
SDI Productions/Getty Images

Open Primaries Topic Creates a Major Tension for Independents

Open primaries create fine opportunities for citizens who are registered as independents or unaffiliated voters to vote for either Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but they tacitly undermine the mission of those independents who are opposed to both major parties by luring them into establishment electoral politics. Indeed, independents who are tempted to support independent candidates or an independent political movement can be converted to advocates of our duopoly if their states have one form or another of Open Primaries.

Twenty U.S. states currently have Open Primaries for at least one political party at the presidential, congressional, and state levels, including Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. At least 15 states conduct "semi-closed" primaries, a middle position in which unaffiliated voters still have an option to choose to vote in one of the major party primaries. 

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration
The national voter registration form is now available in 20 non-English languages, including three Native American languages.
SDI Productions

With Ranked Choice Voting in NYC, Women Win

As New York prepares to choose its next city council and mayor in primaries this week, it’s worth remembering that the road to gender equality in the nation’s largest city has been long and slow.

Before 2021, New York’s 51-member council had always been majority male. Women hadn’t even gotten close to a majority. The best showing had been 18 seats, just a tick above 35 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

"On Las Vegas Boulevard" sign.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash. Unplash+ license obtained by IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths.

Independent Voters Just Got Power in Nevada – if the Governor Lets It Happen

CARSON CITY, NEV. - A surprise last-minute bill to open primary elections to Nevada’s largest voting bloc, registered unaffiliated voters, moved quickly through the state legislature and was approved by a majority of lawmakers on the last day of the legislative session Monday.

The bill, AB597, allows voters not registered with a political party to pick between a Republican and Democratic primary ballot in future election cycles. It does not apply to the state’s presidential preference elections, which would remain closed to registered party members.

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration

In April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape.

SDI Productions

The SAVE Act: Addressing a Non-Existent Problem at the Cost of Voter Access?

In July 2024, I wrote about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act when it was first introduced in Congress. And Sarah and I discussed it in an episode of Beyond the Bill Number which you can still listen to. Now, in April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape. It's time to revisit this legislation and examine its implications for American voters.

Read the IssueVoter analysis of the bill here for further insight and commentary.

Keep ReadingShow less