House lawmakers engaged in a lengthy and impassioned debate Thursday morning over a bill requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot in the State of Maine before ultimately killing it along partisan lines.
This comes after the Senate also cast a party-line vote to reject this proposal, accepting the Democrats’ majority report issued by the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.
Under LD 38, Mainers would have needed to present a form of photographic identification, including drivers license, passport, or a special voter ID card provided free of charge.
Other valid forms of ID would have included nondriver identification, a military ID, or a permit to carry a concealed handgun. College and university IDs would not be considered valid for voting purposes.
An amendment advanced by Republican Committee members would have allowed Mainers to use expired licenses to cast their ballots as well.
This change likely appears to be aimed at addressing some of the concerns that were raised about the struggles that some Mainers, particularly those who are elderly or disabled, may face in obtaining or maintaining an updated license.
“This is just about proving who you are,” said Rep. David Boyer (R-Poland) during a nearly thirty minute debate on the floor of the House. “I think the people of Maine want it. Thirty-six other states have some form of voter ID.”
A 2023 survey by the University of New Hampshire showed that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Mainers support requiring some form of identification to vote.
[RELATED: Mainers to Decide on Voter ID Laws This November]
Referencing the citizens initiative concerning voter ID that is set to appear on Maine’s ballot this November, Rep. Boyer urged those who may oppose certain aspects of that proposal to vote in support of LD 38 to show their constituents that they “support the premise of voter ID.”
Rep. Sean Faircloth (D-Bangor) then gave a floor speech intended to demonstrate that difficulty of committing voter fraud, inviting lawmakers to “plan a crime together.”
“Here’s how we, together, would plan it. In fact, its the only way to commit voter fraud when you think about how, in fact, it would work,” he said, suggesting that one would need to find someone on the voter rolls to impersonate who matches one’s gender and age, ensure that this person wouldn’t be casting a ballot, and then gather “a huge team of fellow criminals” to do the same in order to effect the outcome of an election.
“When you think about this conspiracy, assuming that of this, many, many times that someone doesn’t get up, including the clerk themself, and say, ‘Hey, you’re not Susan Jones. You’re not Jim Smith,’ and that they have succeeded in this conspiracy after hundreds and hundreds of people, then maybe — or scores and scores of people if you’re trying to criminally change the results of an election — then you would have been successful in completing this incredibly complicated crime,” Rep. Faircloth said.
Faircloth then laid out concerns about creating “a very real burden” for seniors and those with disabilities who wish to vote in Maine elections.
“Meanwhile, in the real world, what this would do is harm the rights of Maine citizens, seniors, and people with disabilities,” he argued.
Rep. Marygrace Caroline Cimino (R-Bridgton) pushed back on this, offering the chamber an alternative scenario.
“A person comes into the polls on election day, does not have an ID, and wishes to vote. He wants to register. He goes ahead and registers without the ID, saying that he lives in that particular community, and there is no way to verify if he does if he does not have to prove that he does,” she said. “However, a license or an ID in his hand would show his picture and also where he is from.”
Rep. Cimino then went on to point out that people cannot complete a return at some retail stores without presenting an ID to the cashier.
Several minutes later, Rep. Laura D. Supica (D-Bangor) explained that Cimino’s premise was flawed as Mainers are required to prove their residency when registering to vote.
According to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, Mainers must provide documentation proving their residency, such as a government issued photo ID, birth certificate, signed Social Security Card, utility bill, student ID, a verified unique identifier, or other qualified document when they register.
Rep. Amy J. Roeder (D-Bangor) then outlined several personal examples of the ways that voter ID would have prevented people in her life from having cast a ballot, explaining that it was often a “multi-week process.”
She also suggested that the bill could serve as a means by which to exclude college students studying in Maine from participating in elections.
Rep. Michael J. Lance (R-Paris) highlighted the bill’s clause allowing those without a qualifying ID to obtain a special voter ID free of charge.
“It’s great to hear so many people that want to make sure we have fair and clean elections, which we still have in Maine and will continue to have without voter ID,” Rep. Supica said.
Rep. Barbara Bagshaw (R-Windham) urged lawmakers to “trust but verify,” calling voter ID a “commonsense” measure.
Rep. Roger Clarence Albert (R-Madawaska) pointed out that anyone crossing the US-Canada border must show a passport or “picture ID,” suggesting “that’s not a problem.”
“I trust the system that we have in place. I trust the Secretary of State’s Office,” countered Rep. Anne P. Graham (D-North Yarmouth). “Bottom line is that to vote is our constitutional right, and I support that right.”
Rep. Supica rose again later during the floor debate to point out that unlike when someone goes to purchase alcohol or cigarettes, election clerks have a “huge binder with your signature, your birthday, and all your information.”
Rep. Alicia Collins (R-Sidney), who has personally served as an election clerk, recounted how she has encountered many voters who voluntarily present their ID when going to the polls, some of whom become upset when she says that she doesn’t need to see it.
“A lot of these elections at the local level are won or lost by maybe five votes, three votes, ten votes. These are close elections,” Cimino added later during the floor debate. “And while it seems like you would need a lot of people coming out to commit fraud, just a few — a handful of people — in a city of town committing fraud would actually skew the election results.”
Rep. Bagshaw added to this, noting that she had personally heard reports from constituents of individuals receiving “unsolicited ballots” with other people’s names on them, explaining that she has “photographic evidence” of this occurring.
A few minutes later, Rep. Marc G. Malon II (D-Biddeford) suggested that this could not possibly be true, positing that these individuals may have instead received unsolicited absentee ballot applications, arguing that “nobody is receiving unsolicited ballots.”
Rep. Jeffrey Sean Adams (R-Lebanon) then countered this, explaining that there were unsolicited ballots sent in his district.
“They were sent to people that had been dead for ten years,” he said. “Myself and the Secretary of State are looking into it. So it does happen.”
Rep. Kelly Noonan Murphy (D-Scarborough) pushed back against arguments comparing ID requirements for purchasing controlled substances or returning unwanted items to voting on the grounds that “none of those things are sacred rights granted to us in the Constitution” in the same way that voting is.
“Imposing barriers to exercise that right given to us in the Constitution is un-American,” Rep. Murphy said.
Rep. James Lee White (R-Guilford) then offered a timely example to disagree with this argument.
“We have other constitutional rights that you must put your identification forward first before you can exercise,” he said. “You even have to wait 72 hours for some of them.”
“I find it quite intriguing that one constitutional right weighs heavier than another,” Rep. White added, alluding ro Second Amendment rights, which are the subjects of other legislation being hotly contested in the legislature this week.
Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) raised concerns over potential non-citizen voting, appearing to suggest that voter ID requirements would have helped prevent this from occurring.
After roughly thirty minutes of debate, the House voted to reject LD 38 in a party line roll call vote of 72-69. The Senate also rejected this bill in a partisan roll call vote of 20-13.
