AMENDMENT 1 • SENATE BILL 921
Photo identification for all voters, including by mail
On the ballot: “Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting.”
What is true today
The constitution today says: “Voters offering to vote in person shall present photographic identification before voting.” If approved, it would say: “Voters shall present photographic identification before voting.” Removing “offering to vote in person” is the whole change - the rule would cover every voter, however they vote.
State law already requires a mail voter to return a photocopy of an acceptable photo ID in the clear sleeve of the ballot envelope, or a completed Photo ID Exception Form. This amendment would put that broader requirement in the constitution, with the legislature still writing the detailed laws on acceptable ID and exceptions.
A FOR vote means you support amending the constitution so photo ID is required of all voters, not only in-person voters.
An AGAINST vote means you keep the constitution as it is - photo ID required in person - while the existing state law on mail-ballot ID remains in place unless lawmakers change it.
Supporters argue
One standard for everyone: the same identity rule should apply however a ballot is cast.
Confidence and safeguard: a photo ID copy adds a check that the ballot came from the voter it was issued to.
Permanence: a constitutional rule cannot be quietly removed by a future legislature or court fight over a statute.
Exceptions remain possible: the amendment allows laws governing the requirement, which may include exceptions.
Critics argue
It is already the law: mail voters already send ID or an exception form, so a constitutional change is unnecessary.
Barriers for some voters: copying an ID can be harder for military, student, rural, and older voters, and for voters without easy access to a copier.
Less flexibility: writing the rule into the constitution makes it harder to protect or adjust today’s exception process later.
Extra steps, extra rejections: each added requirement is another reason an otherwise valid ballot can be set aside.
How a mail ballot is verified today
Identity is checked in layers, not by the ID alone: (1) to request a ballot, a voter gives date of birth plus a driver license / state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, and signs the request; (2) the voter marks the ballot in the presence of two adult witnesses or a notary - who see that the voter marked it, not how - then signs the envelope, and the witnesses sign with their addresses; (3) the ID photocopy or exception form travels in the envelope’s clear sleeve; (4) the county board checks the packet on return, and voters can track status through BallotTrax. Ballots missing the required signatures or ID/exception are not counted.
Immediate effect: limited. Because state law already requires ID or an exception form from mail voters, most voters would notice no new step the day after the election. The practical change is durability - the requirement would survive a future change in state law.