The Carter-Baker ID Card Proposal: Worse Than Georgia

• By Spencer Overton
• Special to Roll Call
• Sept. 28, 2005, Midnight

In unveiling the Carter-Baker Election Reform Commission’s proposal on voter identification, former President Jimmy Carter condemned Georgia’s recently enacted voter ID law. He labeled the Georgia law — which makes government-issued photo ID an absolute requirement to vote — a discriminatory poll tax that should be “overthrown by the courts.” He tried to distinguish the Carter-Baker ID proposal by asserting that it had adequate safeguards to ensure that legitimate voters would not be excluded.