Proposed voting laws restricting college students
April 13, 2023
Erie PA, April 7, 2023—On March 29th, 2023, it has been announced that certain legislator lawmakers are attempting to set in place new voting laws that will create more obstacles for college students.
With these new laws that are being attempted to set in place from state to state, it will cause uproar and restriction from those being restricted from their constitutional right to vote.
One state in particular, Idaho had made a ban that makes college students ID as a proper form of voter identification.
Republican governor of Idaho, Brad Little, had signed the new law which prohibits college student from using their college ID when voting on March 15, 2023, which resulted in two lawsuits were filed in both federal and state courts due to this new signing.
Out of the 17 states that require voter ID’s, Idaho and Texas will join the four other states—North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee– that do not take college campus identification as a valid form of identification.
In 2019, taking place in Texas, there was a new legislation that closed early voting sites on college campuses- thus prohibiting college students from voting.
Many barriers are already in place; Ohio has not accepted college student identification for years, and will continue to not accept this form of ID.
Georgia, a state where college IDs were accepted, will no longer be accepted and students must find another form of identification.
In addition to limiting college student’s right to vote, Wyoming is putting restrictions on elders to vote which has unintentionally aided younger voters.
The state house of Wyoming has made a motion to not accept Medicare or Medicaid identification cards- thus limiting an elder’s right to vote.
Republican law maker, Dan Zwonitzer, voted against the bill and had spoken on the matter, “In my mind, all we’re doing is kind of hurting students and old people,” (NYT).
With the 2024 election not far off, this does not seem like a protection of voting rights; rather, a suppression of young voters having their voices being heard.
