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Adding to 11 states, Texas now requires a photo identification when voting for an election. Only voter registration cards were used in the past.  Now a passport or driver license  is required for verification for photo identification.

Texas Governor Rick Perry on Friday ceremonially signed a bill making Texas the twelfth state to require photo identification from voters.

Republican lawmakers insist,  “If you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on an airplane, you should show a picture ID when you vote,” Gov. Nikki Haley said this month when she signed the bill into law in South Carolina, using a common refrain among Republicans.

In 2008 Acorn, a group organizing minority and low-income communities, became a particular target, with Republicans asserting that Acorn was trying to steal the election with large voter-registration drives, some of which were found to be seriously flawed.

State Requirements for Voter ID

Table 1: State Requirements for Voter Identification
States that Request or Require Photo ID
 
States that Require ID (Photo not Required)

(1) The Kansas law takes effect January 1, 2012.

(2) The Oklahoma law takes effect July 1, 2011.  There are some who prefer to call Oklahoma a photo voter ID state, because most voters will show a photo ID before voting.  However, Oklahoma law also permits a voter registration card issued by the appropriate county elections board to serve as proof of identity in lieu of photo ID.

(3) South Carolina’s current voter ID law stays in effect.  The new photo voter ID requirement will take effect after receiving preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

(4) Poll workers in Wisconsin will begin asking voters to present ID immediately, but voters will not be required to present ID until the February 2012 spring primary election.

Graph taken from the National Conference of State Legislatures

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