Last Updated: September 23, 2011
A new law requiring voters to show a valid pictured identification in order to vote may be cause for debate between Democrats and Republicans, but it is cause for concern at the Cottage Grove Town Clerk’s Office.
Town Clerk Kim Banigan said to Board members at their September 19 meeting that the new law, which will take effect starting with 2012 elections, will create a lot of extra work and will make for longer waits at the election polls.
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“We’re just going to have to budget more for elections,” said Banigan, adding that the ID requirement will make the entire process much more complicated.
“The biggest hurdle is training all these people because I’m not supposed to be running the election. I have to train all these other people to know this and it’s going to be hard to get people to work. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Workers at the municipal level will be expected to take care of it, said Town Chairman Kris Hampton answering Supervisor Mike DuPlayee’s questions of how it is expected that these extra responsibilities would be divvied up.
Starting on 2012 voters will have to show a photo ID at their polling place before stepping into the ballot box. Poll workers will verify that IDs are valid and that the picture resembles the person. Expired IDs can be used but the expiration date must be within the last two years.
“It’s really going to slow the line down because you’re not just glancing at an ID and saying ‘yeah, that’s you,’” said Banigan. “You’re checking all these other things, and then everybody needs to sign the book.”
If someone comes in without an ID, she said they can vote provisional ballot and then they have until Friday after the election to come in with proper ID. With all these ballots being received as late as 4 p.m. on that Friday and with them all needing to be hand counted Banigan said she is concerned having more late voters will turn into late poll results. There was discussion she said of accepting absentee ballots until the Friday after the election as long as they are postmarked on Election Day.
Another anticipated complication Banigan said is that there are two assembly districts within the Town, so now when there is an assembly election, there will have to be a second polling place set up with an extra book. Right now the Town only has one polling place at the Town Hall.
The new law has also created a need for new voter registration and absentee ballots. Banigan said the county stockpiled 60,000 absentee envelopes and due to all the changes they had to be discarded and new ones printed. “I have some that I have to toss but I don’t have a huge number. I am always careful about ordering them because they are always changing them.”