Arkansas Legislature Overrides Veto, Enacts Voter Photo ID Law - East Idaho News
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Arkansas Legislature Overrides Veto, Enacts Voter Photo ID Law

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Getty P 102910 PeopleVotingPolls?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1364893087892Ethan Miller/Getty Images(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of a voter photo ID law was short-lived.

Last week, the Arkansas Democrat insisted that the law passed by the GOP Legislature was an unnecessary and expensive measure to solve a problem of voter fraud that doesn’t exist.

However, the Republicans got their way as the Senate voted overwhelmingly to override Beebe’s veto and the House followed suit on Monday.

The new law won’t go into effect until there is a fund of $300,000 to help pay for photo IDs for voters who don’t own one.

Beebe and other opponents of the law say its primary purpose is to prevent the Democratic party’s constituency — namely, the young, the elderly and minorities, who are less inclined to possess picture IDs — from going to the polls.

Some states have passed voter ID laws while others, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, have measures that are held up by court challenges.

At present, Arkansas voters are supposed to be asked by poll workers to show an ID, but can nonetheless cast ballots without proof of their identity.

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