A "voting rights" overhaul at the federal level, including a ban on voter identification laws, is a high priority of President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the "For the People Act," which hands jurisdiction over elections to the federal government, along party lines. Senate Republicans quickly killed the bill this year, but Democrats seek to give it another go.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently tried, in the middle of the night during a vote-a-rama on the budget resolution, to bring the legislation back to the Senate. House Democrats are also attempting to bring back a watered-down version of the legislation. While the Democratic leaders hope to revive these pieces of "voting rights" legislation, a new poll found that voter ID laws are growing in popularity.
The Honest Elections Project found recently that 81 percent of respondents favor voter ID laws, which require photo identification proof at the ballot box, via The Hill:
The poll found support for voter ID laws rose by 4 percentage points from March to July, and it increased by 13 percentage points among Black voters surveyed. While some Democrats have raised concerns that voter ID requirements will disenfranchise low-income voters who may not have a photo ID, 74 percent of those surveyed for the poll said they support providing free identification to voters who need one rather than doing away with ID requirements.
While voter ID laws remain popular, President Biden and his allies liken the common-sense, historically bipartisan requirement to "Jim Crow in the 21st century."
